


Pride and Property

by KujaTribal



Category: Takarazuka Revue RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Kurenai 5
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-19 12:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1470136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KujaTribal/pseuds/KujaTribal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>WARNING: This chapter contains Yuri</p></blockquote>





	1. Your new Life

“So I just need you to sign here…” This was all so exciting! She leaned over the papers and put her initials on the marked spot. “…and here you go. I hope you have a nice time here. Make yourself comfortable in your new home.”  
Smiling brightly, she took her keys from the other person, let the metal run through her fingers and nodded slightly.  
“Thank you. I think everything will be fine.”  
She got up from her chair, let accompany herself to the door and said goodbye to the landlord before stepping out on the street. She had to get to the other side of it in order to reach the complex that included her new apartment. Sighing softly, she watched it for a second. It wasn’t the most pretty of everything, pretty standard actually, however totally fitting for her first very own apartment. It was just a room for herself, a bedroom and a bathroom, a small corner for cooking and right now the room was still stuffed with boxes, yet she was glad she already was able to put them inside. Her father was still very critical about all of this but never said anything out loud. Gladly.  
When she reached the door, she took a second to look across the doorbells. Right there, in the third row, second from the left, it said _Tenju Mitsuki_ and once more she felt herself getting excited. She had dreamed of this for so long, finally moving out of her parent’s house and living her very own life even at her young age. She even got a job to support her with already even if it was just a very small one. It worked while she was aiming for much higher goals.  
“Well”, she sighed. “Here we go.”  
First her mail, she thought. Her mother promised to send her a letter since she couldn’t make it all the way from Akita to Tokyo. She opened the door, walked over to the wall, she failed to put it any other way, of mail-boxes and let her eyes run over the name tags.  
“Oh dear…”  
Sadly, the name-tags weren’t as easy to read as the doorbells. The wall was much wider and not divided into floors like them so she searched them once again. How the hell did anyone keep track of all of this? The silvery metal looked all the same, slightly stained with black spots here and there due to their age, but pretty much the same.  
“Are you alright?” She turned around and her eyes met those of what she first thought was a boy. Blonde, with a sharp face and a bright smile. “You seem kind of lost.”  
“Uhm… I…” She turned her eyes back on the post boxes. “I’m just searching for mine.”  
The woman was suddenly right beside her, grinning widely and stared at her for a little too long for her taste.  
“So you’re the new neighbor? Nice to meet you. Where is your apartment so maybe I can help?”  
Still confused she reached inside her pocket, pulled out a small piece of paper. She may had been inside the apartment before, but damn she could never remember it. Well thinking that she had lived her whole life in just one house, she sure had to get used to it.  
“Third floor, second apartment.”  
When she looked at the other woman, her expression changed into deep thinking, staring at the post boxes and pointing on one.  
“There. Tenju Mitsuki, right?”  
She looked at where the other woman was pointing, right at one of the top boxes and sighed. Of course it had to be one of those. And how was she able to properly reach up there?  
“Can I tell you a secret?” She looked over to the blonde again. “Come on. But don’t tell anyone.”  
Once again she watched as the woman walked over to one of the potted plants, reaching behind it and pulling out a very small stepladder from behind it. Her eyes widened. You couldn’t really see the ladder before because the plant covered it, trapping the ladder between two walls in the corner.  
“I hid it there because I can’t reach up there myself”, the blonde said cockily. Now that she paid attention to it… she couldn’t be taller than herself. She wore a wide, black shirt with something that looked like a white skull on the front, tight, black leather pants and high heeled boots that made the blonde about half a head taller than herself.  
“How…”, she started, but interrupted herself when she watched the woman put down the ladder, climb it and open the box just two boxes away from her own. She got a quick glance at the name tag. _Kisaragi Ren_ it said. “Oh…”  
The blonde just grinned at her.  
“I’m living two apartments away from you, so I guess you can say I know my way around here.” She jumped down the ladder and grinned at her. “Kisaragi Ren. To your service. But please call me Renta. Everyone else does.”  
“I suppose I don’t need to introduce myself. You can call me Mikkii.” She smiled. “It’s nice to meet someone so early on.”  
The blonde made some vague gestures so that she would climb the ladder and open her own box. Just as she did, one single letter fell out of it and Mikkii turned it in her hands. It had her mother’s handwriting on it and it made her smile.  
After Ren put the ladder back behind the pot, the two of them made their way upstairs. There was an elevator up, yet it was out of order. It already had been when Mikkii brought the boxes upstairs on her first visit and made her father groan in pain due to it. She actually didn’t mind the stairs but having an elevator would have been nice.  
“So… where do you come from?”, the blonde asked when they reached the first floor.  
“Akita. I officially moved here just today.”  
“Isn’t that a bit far away? What brings you all the way here?”  
“Work. I wanted to move here all my life so I thought I would take my chances while I’m still young. Were you born here?”  
“No. I was born in Atsugi, Kanagawa. I moved here about two or three years ago.”  
Mikkii smiled wider, looking around as they climbed the stairs. The stairs looked all pretty much the same and just the small plates indicated on what floor they were.  
“Did you already get work here?”, the blonde continued.  
“For now, yes. I hope it will only be for short.”  
“What do you want to do?”  
“I want to try auditioning in the theatre.”  
“So you are an actress?”  
“Singer. I want to do musicals. I did a few small ones back in my hometown but I’m really craving for a big stage.”  
Ren’s grin widened like it did before. Maybe that was just something she did when something was on her mind, or so at least Mikkii thought.  
“If it’s music you like, you have to come visit me at work one time or another.” Mikkii gave her a puzzled look. “I play in a small band. I’m just playing guitar but it’s something.” Before she had the chance to answer, Ren already walked past her just as they reached the third floor. She turned on her heel and gave her a wink. “I make sure to drop a note in your box, okay? If you need something, feel free to drop in. That is if you don’t mind me being sleepy. I’m kind of a child of the night.”  
  
The meeting with her now kind-of-neighbor left her confused, yet she smiled just thinking about it. The woman was kind of nice, but Mikkii felt reminded of a Pop-Star thinking about it. And what was that Child of the Night-thing? Ren was kind of strange.  
It wasn’t until the next evening that she made herself ready for work. Her new boss agreed that she would start a day after she moved in, so she had time to unpack most of her stuff and get proper rest so that she wouldn’t fail on her very first day. She did something like this before, but where she lived you simply knew the people and be familiar with them. In this new city, everything felt far more formal, more distant so she was glad that Ren talked to her so openly. She decided to get the promised note when she came back from work and maybe drop in to talk to the blonde once again. She had to admit she was curious what kind of music her band made.  
Carefully Mikkii opened the wardrobe and took a peek inside in order to sort out her outfit for work. “Blue jeans and a black shirt with a closed collar”, her boss had said. Luckily she just had these ready, so she didn’t need to spend any extra money on it. Back in her hometown, her friends had laughed at her for her rather boyish style however it came in handy now. After putting it on, she took a look into the mirror. The only think she really did was her hair and basic make up and she noticed how she looked more like a boy than ever before. Shrugging softly she grabbed her stuff, put on the most comfortable black shoes she could find and grabbed another piece of paper from her cupboard that contained directions to her new work. Sometimes she hated herself for getting lost so easily in unfamiliar surroundings. This time however, she managed to get there just fine, most likely because it was only around two streets away from her new home.  
Her destination was a night club, the _Hoshi_. Not her first choice, yet it was the very first to accept her, plus she could work at night, sleep in the morning and run to auditions she had planned in the afternoon. At least that was how she imagined it. Her first audition wasn’t until the next week and the ones after were around three to four weeks away. Mikkii took a deep breath and walked in through the front door just as she was told to do. Inside, silent music was already playing, the place was lit up brightly even though it was still bright outside and people were walking around cleaning tables and the floor. It wasn’t a very big club, but impressive for sitting in the middle of the city. It had a stage on the far end, a bar on the other and a well-spaced dance floor that covered almost the whole hall. Not far from the stage, there was a door, most likely leading backstage. With all the people running around there was a lot going on, yet the manager was nowhere to be seen, so she made her way over to the bar to the woman polishing glasses behind the counter. She had a name-tag on that said _Beni_ on it. She couldn’t read the rest of it.  
“Excuse me”, Mikkii started, trying to get the other woman’s attention, taking a second glance at her name-tag in order to get it right. “Beni? Maybe you can help me?”  
“Actually it’s Kurenai Yuzuru”, the woman said rather coldly without looking up from her glasses, finished polishing it and put it away before leaning on the counter. “But I get that Beni-thing a lot, so I guess it’s alright. What can I help you with, girl?”  
“I’m searching for the manager…”  
“So you’re that new waitress? About time we get another. The boss is always so picky about it.”  
Mikkii smiled halfway. She was not sure whether or not to take it as compliment.  
“Well I was told I should call in.”  
“That’s right. But I’m sad to say that the boss is out right now. Our princess is keeping taps on everyone today.”  
“Princess?” Mikkii blinked in confusion.  
“Yes. Miyacchi. She’s the boss’ step sister and the club’s little gem. And between us…” Beni leaned in and lowered her voice. “Make sure she likes you if you want to stay.”  
Mikkii gulped, nodded slightly and threw a quick glance around. Everyone was still busy cleaning and she thought she saw a pattern in the clothing style. Beni, being behind the bar, had a blue shirt on, her collar open and a white cloth over her shoulder. The people cleaning the tables were dressed in the same things like her, however they had a red tie on and their name-tag on the left, while the people on stage were dressed in black pants and white shirts. Most likely people making sure the electronics worked since she saw a few microphones on stage.  
“By the way…” Her head flinched back to Beni. “You didn’t introduce yourself.”  
Mikkii let out a small gasp before bowing down a little.  
“I’m sorry! Tenju Mitsuki. Or Mikkii if you’d like. Nice to meet you.”  
Beni grinned and tilted her head.  
“Nice to meet you, too. And to answer your question from before: you just walk through the door beside the stage and through the hallway, past the stairs and the last door is her room. You can’t miss it. It says _Miya Rurika_ on it.”  
Mikkii thanked the barkeeper, put on a smile before she made her way through the hall that reminded her of a concert, entered the door in question without anybody even taking a look at her. It felt strange yet she didn’t put a second thought into it. Instead she walked through the narrow hallway, where different posters stared at her, all announcing a new thing inside the club. It felt exciting but not as exciting as she was when she stopped in front of the door with a big, golden plate on it. _Miya Rurika._ So this had to be it. Mikkii was scared and intimidated when she knocked softly.  
“Come in”, the voice called and carefully she opened the door. Inside she found everything she ever imagined to find for a theatre or for a star in this case. A gigantic mirror, the walls plastered with clothes, pictures and makeup everywhere. Inside was a girl, taller than her with sharp cut, short hair, gigantic eyes and full lips. Mikkii couldn’t remember if she ever saw someone with such big, brown eyes before.  
“What do you want?” However her voice was everything but soft. More demanding and judging. “Make it quick.”  
“I-I’m sorry”, Mikkii stammered. “I was told I should call in on somebody. This is my first day and…”  
“So you’re the new girl?”, Miya interrupted and started looking at her more intensely. She felt as if she was stripped of her clothes every moment. “Why am I not surprised that someone looking like you shows up here?” Before she got the chance to answer, the other got up from her chair and walked past her, smiling slightly. “But I suppose with your looks you’ll make a fitting addition to the team. Come on. I’ll get you the rest of your uniform. Make sure to keep it clean or you will get into trouble.”  
Mikkii followed Miya back out the room, took the small chance to look at the changing room in awe and closing the door behind her before she walked faster to catch up. Miya started talking again.  
“While we’re at it, let’s get some basic rules down. One: No one, ever, goes in my room when I’m not there. Same for the main office. If you know what’s good for you, you don’t even think about it. Knock and if no one is asking you in you go away. Two: When the boss is not around, I say what gets done. Three: no questions. Four: hands off the band. We have people taking care of us. All you do is serving our guests unless told otherwise. Five: you and you alone are responsible for your money. If anything is lost, stolen or you’re missing something, we will pay it back. Did I make myself clear?”  
Mikkii nodded and the other woman pulled out some keys, opened the door beside the one Mikkii guessed was leading into the main office. The inside was packed with ties, shirts, cleaning stuff, trousers and so on. Miya grabbed one of the ties and a name-tag and handed both of it over to her.  
“Here. Put it on. Then go downstairs and ask for someone named Teru. She will take care of you then.”  
With that Mikkii was almost pushed out the room again and after the door had been locked, Miya walked away once more. Mikkii could do nothing but stare after the woman. Well that was the second person she met wearing incredible high heels and she couldn’t tell if she should be scared of them or not. However Miya was someone to be afraid of, at least from what she got to know then. She turned the tag in her hand around and noticed it already had her name on it. Well that at least explained why Miya didn’t ask for her name. She pinned it on her shirt, took the tie out the plastic and started knotting it properly around her neck. Luckily she knew how to do it even without a mirror or else she would have been even more scared than before.  
When she got out the door she threw a quick gaze over to Beni who was still behind the counter, working at something with her hands behind the counter. Their eyes met for a second and just as they did, Beni nodded over to one of the tables. Mikkii couldn’t figure out why but maybe Beni already knew who she was searching for? Miya surely made it sound like some kind of routine with new people they had. Carefully Mikkii walked over to the table where a waitress was busy cleaning the surface of a table.  
“Excuse me? Teru?”  
The woman looked up and just as she stood up straight Mikkii noticed how tall she was. Back at her place she had been about the tallest girl around, yet everyone around this place seemed just gigantic. Her hair was also short and she had really boyish features, but her eyes seemed kinder than what she saw before, though her tag read _Ouki Kaname_. Maybe a nickname or something.  
“Yes?”, she answered puzzled. “Can I help you with something?”  
“Uhm… Miya sent me.”  
Immediately Teru grinned and let out a little laugh.  
“Oh I see. Did she scare you?” Mikkii didn’t even need to answer. “Don’t think too hardly about it. She’s like this to every new kid here. I got here before the boss took her here for her first day so I guess I got around it.”  
She couldn’t help but smile.  
“I’ll be fine, I guess. I’ve had worse.”  
“Very well then. I suppose I show you around real quick and then we better start working. I want to be finished before the boss comes back and before the club opens. At best before those little bitches of a band show up here. We’ll have time to talk then.”  
  
Teru really gave her only a quick overview over the club. Where to find glasses, where to bring dirty dishes, where to go in order to find stuff to clean up, changing rooms, lockers, bathrooms and so on, introduced her into their paying system before handing her over to another waitress they called Shuu. A nice person, but quite strange when it came to her hairstyle. It was blonde, really long in the front, but harshly short in the back, hanging in her face and clipped aside by a small, pink clip. Looking around the club, everyone seemed so special, in their own way that Mikkii couldn’t help but feel incredibly normal and boring. She just hoped she could get used to it quickly.  
Just as she was cleaning up the last chair, Teru called for her once more making a gesture so that she would follow her and she ran after the horde of waitresses (for some reason she only noticed females in this club aside from a few men handling everything with lighting and technique) into one of the rooms in the back. Teru waved her close and Mikkii positioned herself between Teru and Shuu. Shuu was just pulling out the clip in her hair and rearranged her collar. Mikkii leaned close to her.  
“What’s happening now?”  
“The boss just came in”, Shuu answered, pulling aside her hair. “We’ll have a brief meeting before the club opens.”  
Who really came in was one for her more or less familiar face. The manager she had the interview with, all dressed up in one of the most beautiful suits she ever saw. And she could pull it off better than so many men she knew.  
“Good evening, ladies”, she said, smiling down at everybody. Well it was not like she had a choice. The name tag that read _Kozuki Wataru_ was just high enough on her chest that Mikkii could directly stare at it. If Teru was tall, then Wataru was a giant and everyone in the room surely smaller than her. “I hope you all had a great day. We have nothing way too special tonight, but I still want you to do your best anyway.”  
Wataru’s eyes found hers immediately without even needing to check for her and she felt herself getting smaller when everyone else seemed to look at her as well.  
“As some of you might have noticed already: we have a new face here. Be nice to her. She came all the way from Akita over to us.” A few people clapped and also Teru beside her softly touched her shoulder. “And for you, Mitsuki: I’m sure you’ll get to know everyone in time. I just hope my sister didn’t tread you badly. As we all know she doesn’t bite… a lot.” Shuu and Teru both giggled. “Well enough talking. Everyone knows what tables to take over. We’ll change it up around 11pm so everyone can have a break. Teru keeps tabs on Mitsuki and I want everyone to behave today. After all we don’t want anybody hurt.”  
The waitresses got up from their chairs or simply walked over to the door and left. Mikkii was just about to follow Teru when she heard Wataru calling out for her once more.  
“Mitsuki. Would you wait for a second?”, she said and Teru smiled at her before she left as one of the last persons. Mikkii walked over to her new boss who was just about rearranging the deep red suit. She seemed so serious all of the sudden. “Before I start: this is strictly between us. You won’t tell anybody.”  
“Is something wrong?” Mikkii was scared once more, tried to think of anything she did wrong but what could you really do wrong with cleaning tables?  
“No. Nothing to be afraid of, dear. I just have a question for you and I would like you to answer me honestly.” Mikkii nodded shyly and gulped. “When I asked you why you wanted to work here part time and not full time, you said you needed some time for your theatre auditions. Do I recall that correctly?”  
“Y-Yes? Is there something wrong with that?”  
“Well I may or may not be able to pull a few strings here and there. You see… I have this” she made a slight pause, inhaling. “friend who basically does all of these auditions you were talking about. Musicals, theatre, stage audition for events and I might be able to convince her to look at you more closely.”  
Mikkii felt her heart jump for a second and her face getting pale. She couldn’t tell if she wanted to smile or jump up and down in excitement, yet she forced herself to stay on the floor.  
“I… I…”, was everything she got out. “I don’t know how…”  
“However”, Wataru interrupted her. “I’m not some kind of charity. I want something for this.”  
“Everything! I mean…” It came out so quickly she didn’t have the time to hold it back. “U-Uhm…”  
Wataru laughed softly and crossed her arms.  
“Let’s just take it slowly, okay? I already saw a lot of girls like you. Show me that you’re willing to work hard in here and maybe I’ll think about putting you up on the stage with the band. If you convince me then, I’ll invite my friend so she’ll take a look at you. And as I said…” She put her finger on her lips. “No word to anybody. Especially not my sister. She loves this stage more than anything else and she does not like sharing. I’m just giving you this opportunity once and these are all the tips I’m willing to give you. If you want to get somewhere, you need to work for it.”  
Mikkii felt herself shaking, couldn’t hold back the smile anymore. The only thing stopping her to hug Wataru right now was the fact that she was still her boss and that it was still her first day.  
“Thank you so much”, Mikkii said in a husky voice.  
“Now off you go.”  
That was something she didn’t have to hear twice. It was hard holding back the tears and force down the smile at least a little when she left the room.  
  
“Shiiran!” She held the phone away from her ear. “Where the hell are you?”  
“Relax.” She pushed herself up the mattress and yawned loudly. “You don’t need me right away so calm the fuck down.”  
“I swear I’ll rip your ass open if you’re not here in ten minutes.”  
“I’m literally living next door so why are you even calling me? You could have just come over and knock instead of screaming at me on the phone.”  
“Knowing you, you turned off the bell anyway.”  
Shiiran dragged herself out of bed, walked over to the window and rubbed her eyes before looking through the window.  
“Oh come on. The doors are not even open yet.”  
“We are still rehearsing.”  
“… Liar.”  
“What was that?”  
“Fine. Fine I’ll come over. Just give me ten minutes to get dressed and put on some makeup.”  
“What about ‘Now’ was so misleading?”  
“Fine! Jesus. It’s always the same.”  
“Be careful what you say. The club is still filling out your paycheck.”  
The other person hang up and Shiiran yawned once again. It was always the same. Whatever, she thought. Slowly she dragged herself over to the bathroom in order to get ready, grabbed her clothes on the way and decided to get ready. She thought about how far she could push her luck this time before getting yelled at. Again that was. She didn’t really count a phone call as yelling. Maybe she shouldn’t really test it out. Instead she hurried putting on her clothes and getting ready. There was no need for proper makeup yet since they would put it on just before the show, so she made her way downstairs and into the club on the other side of the street. She hated this club so much, the people inside it, the work she had to do and yet she stayed there for various reasons, one for the better, the other for the worse. One of it was her love to music. Her boss made it clear that if she quit, she would quit for good. There was hardly a way for a drummer to make a name in the music industry.  
She hardly reached the door when another familiar face walked up to her, way more sleepy than she was. Shiiran put on a playful smile.  
“Hey there. Got a call as well?”  
“Well… as every time.”  
“I’m not sure why she is even trying anymore.”  
“No clue. I was on my way already when she called.”  
Shiiran blinked in confusion, looked over to the blonde.  
“You? On your way? I thought you fell out of bed as every time.”  
“Nope. Not today. I had to drop off a note so I even turned on my alarm so I wouldn’t forget.”  
“Note?” Now her confusion was even worse. “To who?”  
“My new neighbor. She didn’t call yet but I hope she’ll knock or something. She seemed nice.”  
Shiiran laughed a bit.  
“You shouldn’t let Miyacchi hear that, Renta. She’ll get angry if she finds out you wake up early for some girl but not for her.”  
“Somebody jealous?”  
Renta’s grin widened and Shiiran shrugged.  
“Nah. Why should I? Let’s just get this over with.”


	2. Everything in Time

Shiiran stretched and yawned slightly as she entered the club with Renta by her side. The two of them were always late, no matter what, even though they were the two who lived closest to their workplace. In Shiiran’s point of view, they were the two least important members of the band that their boss threw together anyway. A few years ago she came into the club for an audition as a drummer for a new band and she was stuck here ever since for various reasons. One: she liked the members of the band or most of them. Second: no one else would hire her. Third: they pay was really freaking good for just one or two days of actual work. They rehearsed three days a week and played their new songs once or twice during the weekends. Shiiran pitied the poor guy who had to keep on writing songs for them every few months. Wataru liked to promote one giant concert every half a year or so but they still hardly ever left the club to go on tour or something, mostly because Wataru’s step sister was their lead vocalist and the princess hardly could make her way around on her own without the big bad sister to watch after her. And how big and bad she was. The worst thing was that everyone still loved her and even Shiiran liked her a lot. She was just the kind of person you couldn’t hate.   
She scratched the back of her head, let her fingers run through her hair once more. She had to get that haircut soon or else she would look even more like a girl. Her boss didn’t like that. Wataru had the idea that androgyny made better money and she was right.   
“There you two are.” Oh god Miyacchi was furious. It was easily seen by the way she walked over to them in her perfectly polished designer heels, her strictly ironed, puffy white blouse and her awfully tight pants. “Could you two be in time just once?”  
Shiiran didn’t even need to check to see that Renta was making a face.  
“We’re here somewhat in time, aren’t we? Don’t be so mad about it”, the blonde said, pulling out some pins out of her pocket to push into her hair. Miyacchi rolled her eyes that were perfectly framed by her makeup.  
“Every time. I swear I’ll ask Wataru to cut your salary someday.”  
“Oh come on. As if you would need us for microphones.”  
“Get the fuck on here already!”, their lead guitarist, Yumeno Seika, they just called her Tomomin, yelled over from the stage. “We don’t have all day you know?”  
“Are you talking to me?”, Miyacchi blurred out, turning on her heel and earned another rolled eyes from Tomomin.  
“Of course not. I’m talking to those two daydreamers. We can’t start tuning properly without those two you know?”  
Shiiran and Renta both took the opportunity to slip past Miyacchi and climb on stage. She didn’t particularly like Tomomin, mostly because of her really strange and aggressive attitude, but she was caring in her very own way. It made up for her weird character. While taking a look around, Shiiran placed herself behind her drums in the back. Everything was already perfectly clean, but the waitresses were nowhere to be seen. Most likely still backstage in order to get some motivational talk from Wataru. They always had their little meeting before they opened the doors, though most of the time they were still busy cleaning when the members of the band arrived. The band included six members. Miyacchi as their lead vocalist, Shiiran at the drums, Tomomin as lead guitarist, Renta carried the second guitar, Yuzuki Reon aka Chie on the keyboards and Shirahana Remi took over their bass guitar. Remi was most likely the only really girly girl in their troupe.   
Shiiran stretched her hands, took her sticks and let them whirl around her fingers a few times before hitting each of her drums a few times. She didn’t really need to tune her instrument, yet she stayed to make sure her drums weren’t louder than the rest of the instruments or, what would be far worse, louder than Miyacchi. The very first thing she had learned was never ever to question Miyacchi or to even dare correcting her. But to be honest: there never really was any reason to correct her. She hit the notes correctly, she sounded amazing and her face made people love her just like her sister. Just her character was a little off.  
She noticed her talent once more when they tried out one of the songs they always used to get the tuning done. It was by no way perfect with the tuning like it was now, but they all knew this song so well they could play it in their sleep and so it was no big deal for Shiiran to close her eyes and hold up the tact blind, softly nodding her head up and down while focusing on the music. When she started doing this, she was remembered why she got into this band in the first place. The music, the feeling when the sound of the drums, the rhythm, went right into her blood and echoing in her mind. No drug could give her a feeling quite like this. And Miyacchi’s voice in combination with the hard strings, Chie basically smashing the keys on her keyboard… it was amazing.   
It didn’t take long until they went back to their usual tuning, back to the point where it felt familiar and back to routine. Shiiran opened her eyes again and grinned slightly when she had perfect view on Miyacchi’s backside who stood there with her hip slightly popped out, a few papers with her lines on them in her hand and concentrating on them. Sometimes she wasn’t sure who was the most girly of them, Remi or her. In the rest of the hall, she noticed the waitresses running around and starting to put up cards with cocktail names on them and Teru ordering most of them around. Wataru was still nowhere to be seen. Strange. Usually she didn’t miss any of her sister’s rehearsals. Maybe she was finally sick of the girl’s voice. That would be a first. However there was hardly anything they could do to look more into their boss’ mind. Sometimes she faded from the face of the earth for hours, never picked up the phone and the next moment she was standing behind you with that sweet smile and an even more bittersweet voice asking why the hell you were so lazy.   
“Oh!”, Renta suddenly burst out not far from her, accidently hit her strings and let out a completely wrong accord while hurrying to put down her guitar, carefully put her baby aside and running over to her, grabbing her wrist. “Come on.”  
“What the fuck, Renta?”, Shiiran answered, yet was pulled off her chair and down the stage. The blonde let her go just as they left the stage and made her way through the waitresses all by herself, suddenly grabbing one of them and turning her, staring at the girl for some seconds.  
“Ha! I knew it!”, she burst out and Shiiran slowly got closer. She didn’t know the girl’s face, yet she was very bad at remembering them anyway. “Call me Jesus and pin me on a cross, I didn’t expect to see you here out of all people.”  
The smile on the girl’s face faded a little, stared at Renta for a few seconds in utter confusion. Before she started stammering.  
“Ren? What are you doing here?”  
Renta didn’t even bother to answer the question, instead turned to Shiiran when she got closer with her typical grin.  
“I told you about my new neighbor. That’s her.” She turned to the girl once again. “I knew we would get a new waitress but I really didn’t expect you here.”  
Shiiran laughed, pulled Renta’s shoulder softly. Sometimes her friend forgot to keep her distance from people once she liked them. Also she took the opportunity to take a closer look at the girl. She was about Renta’s high, blonde, with a cute face and shining brown eyes. Thinking of how the club worked, that wasn’t actually a surprise.  
“I’m sorry”, Shiiran said to her, bowing a little. “Renta is sometimes a little forward. She gets all excited so easily.”  
“Hey! I’m standing right here you know!”  
“So anyway… You’re her new neighbor, right? What a surprise.” She bowed a little. “My name is Ichijou Azusa. But that’s more like my stage name, so just call me Shiiran.”  
“It’s okay”, the girl laughed. “No need to be sorry about. I’m Mikkii. Nice to meet you.”  
Looking at her, Shiiran couldn’t think anything else but: cute. The way she smiled, the way she seemed so happy and bright. It was just adorable. Though she was glad she was with her back turned to Miyacchi. She already felt the princess’ evil eyes in her back and it surely would be worse once she found out Shiiran was actually smiling at the new girl.   
  
Miyacchi didn’t interrupt Renta or Shiiran when they jumped the stage and left the rest of them standing there in the rain. She expected the two of them basically jumping the new girl straight away, like they always did. The club consisted of a more or less fixed staff and members and every new face was rare. The only thing really changing was the audience and even those had ever returning faces.   
She felt a tab on her shoulder, turned to face Tomomin and her questioning face. Surely she wanted to know if it was okay for the two youngest members of the band to be behaving like this given the circumstances they were in. Miyacchi simply shrugged.  
“Let’s have a break until we start and get ready in about an hour. Let the two of them have their fun.”  
The rest of the band shrugged, put down their instruments and headed straight backstage while Miyacchi watched the three a little longer. The new girl, Tenju or something, continued putting up the cards while still talking to Renta and Shiiran. She waited until her eyes caught the blonde’s for just a split second and Miyacchi held up five of her fingers and then pointed to the door behind her.  
Five minutes, back in my room.   
Her way led her back not directly into her room, instead her sister’s room where Wataru was already busy sorting the papers behind her desk. Most likely she went in her office straight after her motivational speech to do the work she was neglecting all day.   
“Did you have to get this type of girl again?”, Miyacchi asked while closing the door behind her.  
“Good evening to you too, sister.”  
“Really. It gets annoying. Can’t you change it up for a little?”  
Wataru looked up and raised her eyebrow.  
“Since when do I need to ask you how to do my job?”  
“We both know you didn’t get her for the job.”  
“And still it’s none of your business, dearest.”  
“But…”  
“No ‘but’s. You out of all people should stay quiet about behavior and why you do the things you do, shouldn’t you?” Miyacchi stayed quiet after that. Wataru smiled at her and waved her over, let her sit on the armrest of her chair and wrapped her arm around her waist. “Just be a nice sister and behave this time. I don’t want you to scare off the new kid like last time, okay? I’m getting really angry about having to spend weeks and weeks of picking out a new one just so you can scare her off a few weeks after. I didn’t throw out Shiiran after your last little… let’s call it incident, did I?”  
“No”, Miyacchi growled and sighed. Wataru pressed a small kiss on her cheek.  
“There. Now let Mitsuki be my business. I’m sure you’ll like her in time.”  
“I doubt that, but okay. If it makes you happy…”  
  
Renta was having mixed feels when she got the hint from Miyacchi to meet her backstage. Luckily for her, Mikkiii was still busy putting up the cards and Shiiran was having her back turned anyway. She felt a hiccup coming up when she thought about Shiiran as her elder getting any of this. Sometimes she could see her watching Miyacchi a little too intense and she would jump the blonde’s throat when she would find out any of this. However for the moment she was distracted by the bright smiling sunshine that was Mikkii. For her first day she sure was cheerful and not nervous at all. Or maybe her smiling was indicating nervousness, she couldn’t really tell.  
“So where do you come from?”, Shiiran asked. Renta placed herself on one of the chairs, took a quick glance at her watch. She had about two minutes left before she had to go backstage.  
“Akita. So it was quite a way over here.”  
“It would be way too far for my taste”, Renta threw in. It was strange that Shiiran couldn’t take her eyes off the new girl. Not that she couldn’t understand. The waitress serving tables 5 to 10 was the only one that was really getting replaced every few months. The tables were closest to the stage, the ones farthest away from the bar and was by hardest the most unlucky place to be in. She wondered if Mikkii was able to keep up.   
“It was alright. Most of my stuff was brought here by airplane. The most complicated part was getting everything up the stairs.”  
“You were pretty loud. I was hardly getting any sleep then.”  
“As if you wouldn’t get enough sleep, Renren”, Shiiran sighed rolling her eyes.   
“Talking of sleep…” The blonde jumped up. “I go nap for half an hour before getting ready. See you two then.”  
She smiled and crossed her arms behind her head before heading through the door to get backstage. There her smile simply dropped. There was no need keeping it up for anyone when no one was around but especially not around Miyacchi. Their lead vocalist didn’t like her smile and her grin anyway, so why bother? Talking about her: the woman was just leaving the office on the second floor and Renta waited at the bottom of the stairs, leaned against the wall.  
“I thought you were waiting in your room?”, Renta asked, crossing her arms. Miyacchi stopped on the second to last stair to look down on her.  
“I had a little talk with my sister.”  
“About Mikkii? What did she do to you?”  
“She’s there.”  
Renta couldn’t help but smile.  
“You really are a princess, you know that?”  
“Then be careful how to talk to me.”  
“Yes, your highness.”  
Miyacchi reached forward and put on a slight grin for the first time this evening, pulling her collar and let her hand slip on the back of Renta’s head, grabbed her blonde her and forced her head back a little. It hurt however she already got used to it. It was sweetened by the kiss the other put on her lips. It had nothing soft in it, more demanding and hot than careful and asking, yet they never worked that way. Renta just wasn’t the type for cute and cuddly. She wanted to get drunk, pick up the next girl she found, have hot and steamy sex and leave without ever hearing from her again. Instead Miyacchi put a leash on her and that was alright. It wasn’t like she had anyone else to turn to anyway. Shiiran sure was a good friend and so was Beni but they weren’t the people she could talk to about her kinks. Miya accepted them without even questioning them and all she asked for it was keeping quiet about the two of them meeting. It was never a good thing when two members of a band had something going on.   
When they parted, she grabbed Miyacchi’s wrist, pulled her with her without another word. She still had time. She closed the door behind their vocalist, pressed her with her back against it and forced another kiss on her.  
  
Mikkii looked after Ren when she made her way backstage, put up the last of the cards and looked over to Teru. Everything was set up and Teru seemed to be busy with Beni. Also the other waitresses were sitting together in small groups, so it surely would be fine, wouldn’t it? She placed herself beside Shiiran.  
“When Ren told me she was playing in a band, I would have never guessed she plays in here.” She turned to face the other woman. “What kind of music do you play?”  
Shiiran reached for the card that sat in front of her on the table and looked over it but Mikkii quickly noticed she just searched for a way to distract her fingers.  
“Well mostly Rock. Some Metal. Sometimes Pop. That depends on what the writers come up with and what mood Miyacchi is in.”  
“She sure has a lot to say around here, doesn’t she?”  
“Wataru lets her have her way most of the time. But she sure has control over her little sister in the more important aspects.”  
“Like what?”  
“What member to keep and who to throw out. The people you work here with never really change, though Miya hates some of them a lot, obviously. But they keep their distance and everyone is working well together. So there’s no need for a lot of change.” Their eyes met and Shiiran put on a smile. “I’m sorry for Renta being so excited but we hardly see a new face around here. But it sure brightens up the place.”  
Mikkii felt the embarrassment flushing her cheeks and she smiled shyly.   
“It’s okay. It really is. I don’t mind it. It’s nice meeting new people. I actually never thought to get to know so many new people right away. Where I come from, new workers get watched with a very evil eye.”  
“Really? Where did you work at?”  
“Yes.” Mikkii nodded a little. “When I was younger I worked part time at a restaurant. I don’t think anyone spoke a proper word with me for two or three weeks when I started.”  
She still remembered the time back then. When people got used to her, they were much more open about anything and work became way easier. She had expected the same from her new work, but Ren broke most of the ice already. Teru, Beni and Shuu seemed really nice as well.   
“Sounds tough.”  
“It was.” Mikkii let her eyes wander off before she watched Shiiran again. “What about you? How did you get here?”  
Shiiran frowned her eyebrows while thinking, tabbed her fingers on the table while putting back the card. Judging on how hard she was thinking, she had been in the band for quite some time.  
“Oh dear. You got me there.” The other laughed. “Well… when I finished school, I wanted to do something with music. I tried out a lot during my schooltime but nothing to really stick with. When I was walking around the city, there was this flyer about a band that was still searching a drummer. I thought I take my chances and here I am.”  
Mikkii tilted her head and blinked slightly.  
“You… don’t sound happy about it”, she noticed, crossed her arms on the table.  
“Well…” The other smiled and shook her head. “Don’t think about it. I’m fine.” She got up. “I get ready now. You should get to know the others before they open the doors and I shouldn’t be here when they do. Oh and be careful of the DJ later. She’s a bit of a flirt and already broke many hearts.”  
The younger one laughed at the obvious joke and nodded, waved Shiiran goodbye and got up then. When Shiiran vanished behind the door, she made her way over to Beni and Teru who seemed to be into a deep discussion, each holding a glass in their hand.  
“… But if you take tall glasses, it looks way nicer”, Teru said, turning a tall, thin glass in her hand.  
“It doesn’t mix so well and it tastes flat then.”  
“You can just stir it.”  
“Do you ever see anyone stir their cocktails before drinking them?”  
“Most of the time I’m busy writing down orders and keeping attention to not trip over some shoes.”  
“Why are you guys fighting?”, Mikkii asked carefully when she joined them.  
“Thin-eyes here says that it’s not important that the drinks look pretty”, Teru answered immediately. “People buy way more when it’s appealing to the eye.”  
“And then they taste like crap. Who’s the barkeeper around here?” Beni put down the much wider, smaller glass in front of her. “That’s the right size for the drink.”  
Teru put down her glass just beside Beni’s, put her fingers on the corners of her eyes, pulling them slightly clearly to mock Beni.  
“That’s the right size for the drink”, she repeated in a not less mocking voice and got slapped on her arm by Beni. She laughed shortly after. “You’ll see Shio will agree with me.”  
“We’ll see about that.” Beni turned to face her and Mikkii felt as if she was jumping her chair any second. “What about you? Pretty looks or good taste?”  
The youngest felt stared at by both women while thinking. She wasn’t sure what to answer. Actually she was but she was unsure if she would be laughed at.  
“So? What is it?”, Teru asked when she wasn’t answering.  
“W-Well I…” Mikkii gulped. “A-Actually… I stir my drinks…”  
Teru and Beni threw their arms in the air simultaneously.  
  
At first Beni felt she had to watch Mikkii more intensely than the others when the doors finally opened for the evening but she was quickly proven wrong. Of course the first people walked straight to table 5 and sat down, but the girl managed to handle it quite well even after the room filled up. She remembered the last girl that worked here switching up the drinks once in a while however Mikkii handled it quite nicely. She didn’t even seem to mind walking the distance and didn’t complain about her feet hurting like many others did. Even after the band came on stage and Miyacchi killed the first song without any trouble, the crowd cheering, there wasn’t a sign of stress. Maybe she would fit in well after all.   
“Do we know why Wataru hired her yet?”, Shio asked while she was busy mixing some cocktails and the blonde filling up shots. They tried to keep it down as much as possible, even though it was hard over the music and Tomomin getting into her guitar solo.  
“The usual reason I suppose. She fits the system.”  
“How long do you give her?”  
“Depends on how Miyacchi treats her. Let’s say… three months? Four at most.”  
“Sad. She really seems cute. And she’s awfully polite. She seemed almost terrified when she asked me for ice cubes.”  
Beni laughed a little, poured the drink into its proper glass, a wide one of course despite what Teru was saying, and put in everything necessary.   
“I’m just saying she seemed to get along with Renta and Shiiran pretty well. You know Miyacchi doesn’t like that.”  
Shio stopped putting the shots on the tablet for a second. Beni was just glad they did this so much that they didn’t need to even look or pay attention on what they were doing to do a good job. That was the benefit of years and years of doing the same work.   
“Why the hell with the two of them? That seems kind of random.”  
“Renta is her new neighbor and Shiiran is her best friend. What did you even think?”  
Shio shrugged and handed out the shots she was preparing.   
  
The club was already empty, the sun almost rising when the waitresses sat around the hall, counting the money they had in their bags, sorting out the tips they got. Mikkii felt excited about this part especially. Where she worked before, she never got any tips before and counting out what she got only for this evening, she could get herself a nice meal. That was… when she was somehow awake again later that day. She was deadly tired and her body was screaming for rest. She didn’t mind the walking and her arms were already trained enough not to hurt however she didn’t expect this many people to cramp around just five tables. She could understand why people gave up on this work quickly when they were assigned to these tables.   
Her head flinched up when she heard footsteps coming closer, noticed Wataru’s smiling face and the woman stopping right beside her.  
“And? How was your first day?”, her boss asked and placed herself on the chair beside her. “Everything went pretty well I think.”  
“It was exhausting but it will surely be fine when I get used working at night.”  
“I hear that a lot. A few hours of sleep surely will do.” She looked on the little pile of money Mikkii had on the desk. “Your tips?”  
“Yes.”  
“How much is it?”  
“Well… a lot”, the younger one laughed. “I… I really didn’t expect to get any.”  
“Then that’s a pleasant surprise. But you earned it. You did a good job. Let’s see how much else you got.”  
Mikkii watched as Wataru got up, got behind her and slipped her hand on her shoulder while leaning over her to punch in a few numbers into the little machine they used to send the orders over to the bar without needing to head over there all the time. The little thing sure was handy. It spat out a few numbers Mikkii couldn’t really read out yet Wataru was nodding pleased.   
“Good. Looks really good. You sell stuff really well, Mitsuki.” She earned another pat on the shoulder. When she turned her head to look at her, she was a little closer than she expected. “Keep it up but I’m sure you can do even better when you get into it. And if you need anything, just give me a call, okay?”  
“I will. Thank you”, Mikkii answered with a shy smile.  
“Good. Then I’ll see you this evening. Make sure to turn in in time. We always have a lot to do.”  
She nodded and Wataru stood up, gave her another smile and walked away. Confused about the praise she blinked and put away her tips, packed in the rest of the money to hand over to Teru. The older woman didn’t even ask about Wataru, though she clearly must have seen it. She figured it had to be perfectly normal for the boss to behave that way. She seemed to be on very close basis with anyone around the club, so it would be fine.  
“Hey Mikkii!”, she heard Renta call just as she was about to leave the club. “Will you wait for me?”  
She smiled at the blonde, waited until the other caught up to her.  
“Great show you put up there”, she said to the blonde, smiled at her and the two of them left the club.  
“Thanks. It wasn’t anything special though.”  
“It was still great. You play really well.”  
“Were you even able to hear me over Tomomin and Miyacchi?”  
“I learned to filter out a voice in a crowd of over 50 people so… yes I heard you. I also heard one string on your guitar wasn’t tuned properly.”  
Renta laughed and scratched the back of her head.  
“Oh you did? I’m sorry. I was just lazy.”  
“Well thinking that you simply took a nap before the show, I’m honestly not surprised”, Mikkii giggled.  
“Oh yes. I promise I won’t do any mistakes next time.”  
“I’m looking forward to it. I like your music.”


	3. Your new image

She wasn’t even remotely awake when the hard knocking at the door and the doorbell almost made her fall out of bed. Instead she reached for her alarm clock, aggressively pressed the button in order to make it shut up. Why the hell won’t it stop? She didn’t want to open her eyes just yet.   
“Tenten!”, she heard the people yelling outside. “Come on! Open the door!”  
Mikkii opened her eyes just enough so it wouldn’t blind her, tried to take a peek on her clock she still had her hand on and growled.  
“Are you fucking kidding me?”, she yawned and dragged herself out of bed, whined when her naked feet touched the floor. Her way too large pajama may covered the upper part of her feet but not the part between her feet and the wooden floor yet she hated to walk around in sandals. She would give everything for her parent’s floor heating right then. She was sure missing it for the past few days. Living on her own for almost two weeks had its advantages but she sometimes missed coming home from work and finding a warm meal and an even warmer bed. Right now she just fell into bed after work, got up in the afternoon, got up just to get a small thing to eat and then go to work. At least her body seemed to adapt to the late shifts. Another ring at the door.  
“I’m coming!”, she called out and dragged her way through the room. Boxes were still standing everywhere, halfway filled up or empty and basically taking up space. She didn’t have time to unpack them completely. Right now she used her days off to get new clothes, wash, get sleep or rehears her lines for the audition she had coming. Even though Wataru made her that promise, she didn’t want to take any chances despite her boss being more than satisfied than her. She came to check up on her after every shift, checked her income with a more or less satisfied nod, smiled and walked off again. Working there was nice but exhausting.  
“What took you so long?”   
She stared right into Shiiran’s and Renta’s face, raised her eyebrows in surprise while looking at them through her way too long bangs. Her hair had gotten quite long and her hairline was already showing her natural hair color again.  
“I was sleeping?”, Mikkii answered the other blonde. Why was she already awake at this hour? Usually it was her sleeping all day long, wasn’t it? Mikkii rubbed her eyes. “What do you want?”  
“Wondering if you want to come along tonight”, Renta blurred out without thinking. Mikkii looked up at her.  
“What?”  
“Oh come on. You work every night. Come along and we’re partying a little bit tonight. The rest of the band, Teru, Beni and Shuu come along as well. I heard even something about Miyacchi dragging her sister along.”  
“And you wake me up at this hour just to tell me? I’m not even awake at this hour when I learn my lines.”  
“We couldn’t let you let you out with that hair and that outfit.”  
Mikkii pulled out the hair off her face and tried focusing the two women. It was still hard, mainly because she had no contacts in and forgot to put on her glasses.   
“What is that supposed to mean?”  
“That you will get dressed”, Shiiran started, pointing on her nightgown. “and then the three of us will go to the hairdresser and get a new haircut.”  
“But I don’t want a new haircut.”  
“Don’t be such a funkiller. Don’t you want to try out anything new? I’m sure the guests will appreciate a change of your looks.”  
Mikkii had to sigh once again. She already noticed how the tips were directly related to one’s appearance. When she wasn’t properly dressed up, she made way less. Not that she particularly cared however the tips definitely helped her out a lot. Shuu already let her in that she spent almost an hour in front of the mirror in order to be perfectly dressed up for work and everyone else seemed to change around their style at least once a week. Growling she turned on her bare foot.  
“Come in. I get dressed.”  
  
Shiiran grinned widely and looked over to Renta before entering Mikkii’s apartment, pulling the shoes from her feet and stepping inside the living room. She didn’t expect a lot, she really didn’t since she already knew Renta’s apartment way too well however the boxes standing around everywhere made the room even more crammed than it already was. There was a small couch with a table in front of it and an unplugged TV in the other corner of the room, dirty dishes were hardly cleaned up in the sink and clothes were simply thrown over the backrest of the couch. Also there was a small book, most likely including Mikkii’s lines she was rehearsing, and a pen on top of the table. She turned to face Renta, met a cocky smile.  
“No need to grin like that. Your rooms are even messier.”  
The blonde shrugged it off, walked over to the couch and let herself fall on it. Shiiran walked through the room instead. Her eyes caught an opened letter. Usually she didn’t invade other people’s privacies, yet the letter was way to open on the shelf that she had no chance but to read the first few lines.  
 _Dear Mikkii,  
I hope you have a nice time all the way in Tokyo. Your father and I are missing you very much already. Please take care of yourself and don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything. We are hoping you make a lot of new friends and I’m praying that you will get what you wish for. Shimon is already missing you as well. Make sure you’ll call her in time.  
_ She quickly ripped her eyes off the letter and inhaled slightly. It looked way too feminine to be a man’s writing, so maybe her mother? It sounded kind of cute, caring and loving. She didn’t hear anything like this for a long time.   
A loud bang ripped her out her thoughts and she looked over to the one door where she expected the bedroom to be behind. She threw a quick gaze over to Renta. The blonde got up and the two of them walked over to the door, carefully opening it and peeking in.  
“Mikkii? Are you alright?”, Renta asked. Shiiran however felt herself blush a little. Mikkii hopped beside her bed, holding her foot in nothing but a blue shirt and some bright, green panty.   
“Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch”, the younger one whined.  
“Mikkii?”, Shiiran called out louder. Mikkii turned around just enough to see that her shirt was still opened all the way and barely covering her upper body. With a slight scream, she pulled close the shirt altogether and turned to face them completely and her cheeks turning completely red.  
“You can’t just come in like that! At least knock!”  
Shiiran did her best to look away but she could tell Renta was looking at the other woman without any shame and most likely grinning.  
“Cute panties”, Renta said. “I think they would look much nicer on the floor.”  
Shiiran stared at her friend and slapped the back of her head, earned a not so silent ‘Ouch’ before looking at Mikkii once again.  
“Sorry. We thought something happened.” She grabbed Renta’s shoulder. “We’ll wait in the living room.”  
She dragged her friend out of the bedroom and closed the door, pushed Renta in front of her so she wouldn’t even think about going back in there. She knew the blonde long enough to know what exactly she was thinking about and Mikkii had given her the perfect opportunity to do so.  
“Don’t even dare”, Shiiran hissed at the other when she was sure that Mikkii wouldn’t hear them. “I know what’s going on in your head.”  
“Relax. I’m not doing anything.” Renta grinned even wider. “But don’t even pretend you didn’t like that.”  
“I didn’t.”  
“You stared.”  
“No I didn’t!”  
“I can’t even blame you. I never thought that she was hiding something like this under her clothes.”  
Shiiran rolled her eyes and blushed again. There was no point in arguing against Renta, especially not in this matter. They were interrupted anyway by Mikkii opening up the door and stepping out with her shirt closed and some tight, black pants, still with that embarrassed look on her face and her skin bright red peeking out from under her unmade hair.  
“I just… go to the bathroom real quickly”, she murmured.  
“Want me to help you?” Shiiran slapped Renta once again. “OUCH!”  
“I’m so sorry for her.” She sighed and looked at Mikkii. “She doesn’t mean it.”  
A small, fainting smile creped on the younger one’s lips.  
“It’s okay. Give me a minute.”  
She looked after the other when she headed for the bathroom, locked the door behind her. This time it was Renta to slap Shiiran’s arm.  
“Hey”, the blonde said suddenly even more seriously. “Just be careful.”  
“What? Why is that now?”  
“You know perfectly why. Miyacchi will murder you if you look after another girl.”  
“Look who’s talking.”  
“Hey. She’s your girlfriend, not mine. I’m just having some fun.”  
“Wataru will fucking end you if you dare lay hands on her. You know exactly why she was hired and by the way the boss is acting, she fucking stays.”  
“Then we both have reasons to keep this all on a verbal basis.”  
  
The at first so embarrassing incident was quickly forgotten when the three of them went outside and Mikkii was finally able to calm down. Well at least her face wasn’t red anymore. Simply thinking about Renta’s comment made her blush again, so naturally she tried to force away the thought just so she could think about this even harder. She definitely never wanted anyone to see her in her underpants. Well not anyone she didn’t approve of.  
Mikkii sighed as they entered the small shop she figured was a hairdresser. There were colors and shots of the most bizarre hairstyle she had ever seen and for a second she even wondered if this was a proper hairdresser.  
“Hey guys”, the boy said behind the counter. “Back again? What can I get you today?”  
Both Shiiran and Renta greeted him as Mikkii was still busy looking around.  
“Well mostly the usual. But can you do us a favor?”, Renta started, pointing over to her over the shoulder. “Give her something freaky and new. She’s all pure and proper and I suppose that doesn’t really fit with us.”  
“Is she working with you?”  
“Wataru hired her.”  
When Mikkii looked over again, the guy and Shiiran exchanged a few looks before he came around from the counter and smiled at Mikkii, waving her with him.  
“Then I guess I already exactly know what to get you”, he said. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”  
She looked over to Shiiran who just shrugged and sat down on the chair beside her. Well at least she wasn’t alone. The guy came back with a small machine she only knew from her father and leaned on the backrest of the chair, looking at her in the mirror and ruffling her hair with one hand.  
“Hm… yes that would surely look amazing.” He pulled aside a bit of her hair and trimmed out a line. “We’ll use red and we’ll shave off one side…”  
“Woh! Hold up”, Mikkii said louder than she intended. The guy didn’t seem to understand her protest. “Shaving?”  
“Well yes. It’s called Sidecut. People are nuts for it now and I am convinced you would look amazing with it, especially if you grow out the other side a little more. Maybe a little of blonde in the red.”  
“I don’t think…”  
Renta decided to throw herself into the conversation once again.  
“Oh come on, Tenten. Don’t you ever do anything fun? It will grow back.”  
“She’s right.” Shiiran said, leaning on the armrest of her chair. “Come on. What’s the worst that can happen?”  
“Me looking like an idiot.”  
“Or you will look totally hot and you can hire someone to unpack your boxes from your extra tips.”  
She looked left and right, sighed deeply and looked at herself in the mirror. Never anything fun? Well what was she supposed to do? She tried getting anywhere in life, worked hard and hardly ever got out. Maybe a day off was fine? And if a new look, an experiment, was even helping her with her job, then maybe it was worth a try? It would surely make the people at the theatre remember her.  
“Fine”, she said. “Okay fine.”  
  
“And why do we need to drive to the other end of the city? We could be perfectly fine where we go any other time.”  
“Maybe I just don’t want to go there today.”  
Miyacchi gave her sister a raised eyebrow. She knew the smile Wataru had on her lips way too well.  
“There is something going on in your mind. I can feel it. What’s so special about this club?”  
Her sister laughed once more, stared outside and grinned even wider.  
“You won’t give up, will you?”  
“Not until you tell me what’s up this time.”  
“Well… if you must know: They have Karaoke there.”  
Miyacchi blinked in confusion.  
“I’m singing almost every day. Why the need for karaoke?”  
“Who said it’s for you, sis?”  
She growled and leaned forward a little to get a better look at her sister’s face.   
“We drive all the way out there for that Mikkii-kid? Are you kidding?”  
“Not at all.”  
“Why?”  
“I may or may not have to keep a promise and to be honest: it doesn’t hurt finding out how talented she really is.”  
“Why is that?”  
Wataru thought about it for a second, tilted her head while doing so.  
“You see… Before I hired her I researched bits and pieces of her. She was part in a few small musicals up there in Akita.”  
“Is that what makes her interesting for you this time?”  
“Don’t be so harsh, Ruri. It will help the both of us. If you finally decide to sign that contract I need someone to replace you on stage.”  
“Liar”, Miyacchi snorted. Wataru however was just grinning even wider.  
“Have a little fun tonight. Your precious will be there after all and you can distract yourself with the rest of the band. Just let me do what I do best and no one will get hurt.”  
“Don’t expect me to like her.”  
Her sister smiled her knowing smile once more.  
  
“First you make me cut my hair and now you want me to get a new outfit as well?”  
“Come on, Tenten. Have some fun. We still have some time until we meet up with the others and the club is just around the corner”, Renta cockily said and searched through other pieces of clothes. “Also you didn’t bring a jacket and you’ll freeze later on.”  
“How nice of you to care about my wellbeing.”   
Renta smiled over to Mikkii, saw the younger roll her eyes, however she preferred to stick her nose back into the jackets that were perfectly lined up in front of her. She had never been in this shop, yet she noticed that she should go out there more often. The clothes were unusual but fitting for her line of work. She pulled out one of the leather jackets.  
“Here. Try this one on.”  
Renta handed it over to the other woman and Mikkii looked at it intensly.  
“Are you kidding me?”, she asked and turned it in her hands. “I’ll freeze even more in this.”  
“Just try it on, will you?”  
The now redheaded woman sighed softly, turned on her heel and walked over to one of the mirrors. To be honest: the new haircut surely made her hot. With her formerly blonde hair it had been more cute and cuddly, however with that sidecut she looked way more playful and badass than before. The jacket she just put on improved the image even more. Renta walked over to her, put her head on the other woman’s shoulder from behind and grinned widely at her in the mirror.  
“Like it or not: it suits you. A lot.”  
“I have to give Renta a point there”, Shiiran said while stepping out the cabinet. She was searching for new pants to fit her new haircut. Shiiran had liked Mikkii’s haircut so much that she decided to go for a similar style, just with blonde and black instead of red and black, also with her sidecut on the other side.   
“You think?” Mikkii however didn’t seem so convinced. “I’m not totally sure…”  
“It looks really well. And I suppose it will keep you warm enough.” Shiiran turned on her spot. “What do you think about these?”  
“Are you even able to sit in these?”, Renta asked and put one arm over Mikkii’s shoulder.   
“They are not that tight…”  
Renta leaned over to Mikkii.  
“How much do you want to bet they’ll rip right open?”  
“I’m not betting…”, the other mumbled.  
“Oh come on. Stop sulking like this already.”  
“I could sleep right now.”  
“You’ll have fun, I promise. One or two drinks and you don’t want to go to sleep anymore.”  
Mikkii was about to open her mouth once again when Shiiran decided to interfere.  
“Mikkii just don’t argue. Renta hardly let’s anything off once she has set her mind on it.” Shiiran smiled over to the younger one. “If you really can’t bear it anymore, I’ll bring you home, okay? But just stick with us for a few hours.”  
Mikkii sighed and looked at Renta once more, back to Shiiran before she focused on her once more.  
“I see why you two are best friends.”  
Renta grinned into the younger woman’s face.  
“So… Are you getting that jacket now or not?”  
  
“We’re first again? Ah man…”  
Beni yawned and stretched when she turned on her spot to look out for the others.   
“Don’t be so whiny. You’re the one who wanted to get here early.”  
Tomomin looked over to her before searching her jacket for the pack of cigarettes, handed one of it over to Chie.  
“You’re so mean, Tomo-chan”, Remi whined and hitting the other woman on her upper arm. “Can’t you just be nice for once?”  
“I’m always nice.”  
Beni shook her head and looked over to Teru who was already on the phone, talking into it. As much as she could understand it was something about when the others would come in and if they already should go inside. She leaned a little closer in order to catch bits and pieces of the conversation and also to avoid more of Tomomin and Remi arguing.  
“You want what?”, Teru started, staring on her watch. “At this hour?” A small pause before she sighed. “Okay. If you want to. I’ll tell the others.”  
She hung up.  
“What was it?”, Beni asked and Teru shrugged.  
“We should already go inside and order some drinks. Guess she really wants to make us drunk.”  
The younger of the two had to laugh and crossed her arms. That was typical for Miyacchi and Wataru. Knowing both of them they wouldn’t even touch a drop of it and rather enjoy all others of them drunk. She shook her head, looked around. It didn’t take long to discover more or less familiar figures on the other side of the street, rushing over to them. Beni grinned widely when she noticed the hard change one of them made and she didn’t even need to guess who was responsible for it.  
“Wow. Nice haircut, Tenten”, she said and walked over to Mikkii, looked at her from head to toes. “And nice clothes. I guess Renta had her fingers in this?”  
“Oh come on. She’s hot”, the blonde interfered. The other band members came closer quickly.  
“I must admit, it looks really nice on you, girl.” Tomomin could be so charming while being so bored. However Remi took over the excitement for this instead.  
“You almost look like a Rock Star, dear”, she said happily. “It suits you so nicely.”  
  
Still Mikkii wasn’t sure if she liked the attention or not however she was glad that they went inside so quickly. That didn’t change the fact that she felt so much inferior to the band members, Beni and also Teru who seemed to be so familiar with one another and she was intimidated by that. Sadly Shuu didn’t come along after all. Beni had said something about her not feeling well. Oh well, Mikkii thought, it couldn’t be helped.   
When they entered, she noticed the club wasn’t so much different from where she worked at, just without the whole stage-stuff. The group headed over to a big, round, empty table in the far back that seemed to be a little cut off from the rest of the room after Teru had a small talk with the barkeeper. Not long after they ordered some drinks, Mikkii silently asked for a non-alcoholic cocktail, Miyacchi and Wataru also joined them, said hello to everybody and sat down, Shiiran and Renta to her right, Wataru and her sister to her left. She decided not to talk a lot, rather watched her elders talk and how they interacted with one another. Once in a while she had to grin at the jokes they made with each other, that was until Wataru touched her upper arm and said something about Karaoke. She couldn’t really hear her over the loud music, yet when she looked over around the corner, well more like Wataru pulling her up, Miyacchi and the others at her feet, she saw the big screens she didn’t notice when she first got in. It was strange how easygoing her boss was in her free time and also how they all treated each other like equal members of the group. Seeing the karaoke-machine however made her heart jump. It had been so long since she had the chance to do something like this. It was Remi who carefully pushed her forward, urging her to sing a song. She decided to go for something along the style of the band, just for the heck of it. It was called “Otoshiana no soko wa konna Sekai”. It wasn’t particularly her style of music to sing but she was convinced she did it rather well. The applause she got at the end of the song just pushed her ego even further.  
“Good job”, Wataru said loudly while she switched places with Renta and she pressed a glass in her hands. “Here. That’s for you.”  
“Th-Thanks!”, Mikkiii said smiling, took a small sip of the drink, however felt like choking. She wasn’t expecting any alcohol.  
“Is everything alright?”  
“Yes! I mean… uhm…”  
“Don’t you like it?”  
No matter how easy Wataru seemed right now, she was still her boss and for some reason Mikkii couldn’t push that out of her mind. Giving back the drink somehow seemed rude to her after Wataru already got through the trouble getting it for her. She put on a smile.  
“Everything is just fine. Thank you so much.”  
Her boss smiled at her, raised her own glass and clinked hers.   
“Well then… Let the evening get better.”  
  
Shiiran started watching all of this with mixed feelings. She expected Renta as the first one going out there and pick up the next best girl she could find, which she did, however she didn’t feel comfortable with everyone else getting drunk so much quicker than her. Remi and Tomomin got back to their usual flirting-ritual that would just result in Remi dragging home Tomomin and put her to sleep, Chie was somewhere and let Renta play wingman for her again, Teru and Beni sat there for almost one hour discussing… something (something about stirring or wide glasses), Miyacchi ultimately decided to go drunk as well and was still at the karaoke-machine and Mikkiii was sitting beside her with Wataru almost on her lap, her boss’ arm on the backrest and the redhead already dead drunk. And there she thought Miyacchi was a lightweight. Mikkii hardly got past the second cocktail. Shiiran was convinced that she couldn’t even follow the conversation anymore with all her giggling. What made it even harder was Wataru’s shameless flirting and all she was able to do was stare while her boss was leaning in even closer to the redhead. _An order is an order_ , she told herself but it became harder every minute until Shiiran sighed theatrically.   
“Wataru?”, she started, leaning over the table in order to make it more easy for the other to understand her. “Could you do me a favor and finally rip Miya off that stupid machine? I’m so bored and she won’t listen to me.”  
“And why is that my problem?”  
“Oh come on”, Mikkii slurred and softly hit her boss on the shoulder. “Don’t be so mean.” The youngest blinked in order to focus more properly. “I need to go to the bathroom anyway.”  
“I don’t feel comfortable letting you go there all by yourself. I should accompany you.”  
“No. No I’ll be fine…”  
“I could go with her”, Shiiran threw in and Mikkii turned to her.  
“That’s a great idea!”  
Shiiran forced down a gulp and avoided an angry gaze by her boss by smiling at the younger woman. Wataru got up and smiled down at them.  
“Fine. Have it your way. I expect you two back when I do so Shiiran can go off with Miya, yes?”  
Mikkii threw a satisfied grin up at Wataru before she tried getting up, held herself by Shiiran and still avoiding Wataru’s gaze, she helped her friend over to the bathroom. Mikkii had already thrown off the new jacket and rolled up her sleeves. So much for freezing later on. Luckily she could avoid looking at Wataru once more. She knew she would get in trouble in the next few days for this action.  
“Thank you so much”, Mikkii suddenly started when they reached the more or less empty bathrooms. “I’m having so much fun!”  
The younger suddenly flung her arms around Shiiran’s neck, making her lose her balance and practically falling inside one of the cabins. Luckily she wasn’t too drunk to fall down and instead held the other between herself and the wall on the side while the door fell shut. Shiiran smiled awkwardly.  
“No problem… It was Renta’s idea.”  
Mikkii pulled her in even closer. The sweet smell of her last cocktail brushed her cheek while she had a hard time looking into the younger woman’s eyes. She definitely had enough.  
“I wouldn’t have come along if it hadn’t been for you. I like you so much, Azu.”  
Shiiran felt herself blush and tried to keep on the smile. She didn’t like in which direction this was going.  
“Well that would have been a waste. Your singing was really, really good.”  
“Just for my singing?” Oh dear Mikkii’s slurring was so bad and Shiiran doubted she was realizing what she was doing. “That makes me sad.”  
“No of course not only for this. I mean… you look nice and you’re having fun…”  
“Don’t YOU like me here with you?”  
“Mikkii don’t start like that. We…”  
“So you don’t.”  
“Of course I do.”  
“Then why won’t you kiss me?”  
“You’re drunk.”  
“That’s why.”  
“I can’t…”  
“Shiiran pretty please. I really want this now.”  
She was still frozen in her position with Mikkii running her fingers through her hair, her being way too close to just pull back from it but something in the back of her head was still screaming at her. She already was in trouble for getting Wataru away from her and she would be in even more when she was giving in. She closed her eyes instead, trying to focus, but the dizzy feeling due to the alcohol wasn’t giving her much of an option. First she felt Mikkii pulling her a little closer, first her breath, then her lips brushing her own, next the younger woman’s whole body pressed against hers and she couldn’t help but hugging her tightly. For the one reason so Mikkii wouldn’t fall, for the second that the kiss that deepened way more quickly than she would have liked, actually felt really fucking good.


	4. Your friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains Yuri

Alright. So the little party they were having wasn’t actually so bad after all. It only was really bearable after she flirted with her sister enough to make her buy her a cocktail, however when she finally got tipsy enough to get up and claim the karaoke-machine as her own, she started having a lot of fun. Miyacchi was so into her song that it took her a second to realize the tab on her shoulder, turned and blinked at the person in front of her. Her sister seemed rather blurry in the ever changing colorful light of the screen and the dark of the club.  
“What is it?”, she asked and Wataru immediately leaned closer. Her voice was rather angry and growling.  
“Get away from your stupid machine and take your fucking girlfriend away from Mitsuki.”  
Miyacchi started pouting, the microphone still in her hand and turned to the new found audience.  
“You really don’t want me to leave, do you people?”   
The crowd cheered and Miyacchi was laughing slightly. However Wataru pulled her close by the shoulder and started whispering into her ear.  
“I don’t know if you noticed but Shiiran seemed to be quite fond of Mitsuki. I think it would count as flirting. Do you really want that to happen, dear sister?”  
The smile fell off of her face and she looked at the taller woman. Shiiran flirting with Mikkii? What nonsense, she thought, but what if it was true? Shiiran was hers and her girlfriend alone. She looked around and forced on a smile.  
“Sorry guys”, Miyacchi sighed. “Seems my sister doesn’t seem like I was worth having fun.”  
There was a sad rumbling going through the people around her, yet she was let go rather quickly. Quickly she walked back with her sister just to find the table more or less empty with just Remi and Tomomin sitting on it, Tomomin having her head on Remi’s shoulder and most likely being half asleep. Wataru didn’t seem too amused by all of this.  
“Where’s Mitsuki?”, the older one asked in that voice Miyacchi didn’t hear for quite some time. It was somewhere between a growl and a straight up knife to the throat.  
“Not back yet”, Remi said, tried smiling but failed when she saw in what a bad mood her boss was. “Give them some time. Mitsuki seemed really drunk.”  
“I wasn’t asking for your opinion”, Wataru said angrily and looked over to where the restrooms were. Miyacchi didn’t even dare opening her mouth, fearing that her sister would straight up slap her.  
“You really need to be more careful about your toys, Wataru”, Tomomin suddenly started slurring without really raising her head. “Or you’ll lose that one just as fast as that Nukka-girl you scared off.”  
Miyacchi didn’t even have to look in order to tell what a deathglare her sister was throwing over to Tomomin, however she started speaking in a sweet voice much like cotton candy.  
“I think you need more practice, Tomomin. You need some extra hours of rehearsals. And I don’t fucking care if you’re tired or hangover.”  
With that, Wataru was turning on her heel, heading for the restrooms. Miyacchi decided to jump after her just in case. Not because she was scared of Wataru also yelling at her for leaving her side, but more because even in her tipsy state she could read her sister well enough to say how mad she would be at Shiiran for not being back in time and she could not let that happen. The drummer was hers and she would drag Shiiran back in her lap even if she had to chain her.  
  
Shiiran couldn’t help but really slightly, faintly moan against the other’s lips which she never really left ever since Mikkii started kissing her. Not that she was given the chance anyway. Instead the other pushed harder against her, softly pulling her hair and slipping her tongue between her lips time and time again. She felt so different from what she was used to. More soft, demanding but also asking and exciting. Carefully Shiiran slipped her fingers under the blue shirt and brushed her fingers over the soft skin on Mikkii’s back, tickling a moan out of her. She shouldn’t taste so sweet, yet the cocktails she had and something else did. Shiiran couldn’t hold back in slipping the tips of her fingers under the belt of her trousers, felt the soft arch of her back and sucked more sensually on her bottom lip. This felt so nice…  
She was so into all of this that she failed to recognize the door being slammed shut and the one of the cabin they were in being ripped open. Shiiran quickly let go of the other woman, broke away, yet she felt the claws in her shoulder tearing her out of the closet, saw Mikkii fall against the wall and hardly holding herself up. Next she stared into Wataru’s more than angry face. The woman was furious.  
“I do hope you are too drunk to realize what you are doing, Ichijou”, her boss said with a voice soft and smooth as silk and Shiiran became smaller on the spot. Hearing Wataru pinching every word in her ear pierced through her head and she shook even harder.  
“I… I-I…”  
“I think you have something else to do, don’t you?”  
“Let me explain…”  
“Don’t you?”  
“I didn’t mean it…”  
“Miyacchi is waiting”, she spat out the sentence as if it would burn the skin on her face right off. If she was a dog, she surely would put her tail between her legs, yet she didn’t dare taking her eyes off the other woman, fearing her boss would rip out her lunges while she snuck past her and towards Miyacchi. She didn’t even dare looking at her boss’s step sister, saw the smile only in the corner of her eyes and felt her hand being taken and led out. Instead of going back to the table, Miyacchi led her out and stopped when they were far enough away from the entrance so that the music wouldn’t disturb them. The other woman stopped in front of her.  
“That was pretty stupid, Shiiran.”  
That was a bad habit Miyacchi had picked up from her sister. The more angry she was, the more calm she seemed and right now she seemed like she just figured out the meaning of life and found inner peace. Shiiran gulped.  
“Miya…”  
“I don’t want to hear anything.” The other stepped closer, hugged her slightly and pulled her close. “But just to be clear: You will never ever go near that Mitsuki girl ever again. She is my sister’s to be had and you know that.” She started hissing the more she went on. “I don’t like my heart being broken, Shiiran. And seeing you kissing another woman really hurts. So if you even think about leaving me or being with another, I’ll fuck you up and fucking end you.”  
  
Mikkii couldn’t tell what had happened, but one moment she felt so good, heavenly, the next the warmth was taken away from her and she tried standing up somehow. All she heard was some talking, tried orientating but it failed due to the floor still spinning. However then she recognized being held up again and she clawed the fabric under her fingers. It felt different from before.  
“Poor thing.” That was Wataru’s voice. She raised her gaze and blinked at her boss. “I’ll get you home, okay? You had too much.”  
“I don’t wanna leave.” Mikkii felt some serious slurring going on that she couldn’t hold back. “Just two more hours.”  
“No, dear. I don’t want to drive you to the hospital. I’ll taking you home.”  
“Can’t we just sing one more song? Please?”  
“I said no.”  
Mikkii let out a disapproved sound, let herself getting supported while they made their way back to the table. There Wataru simply grabbed the leather jacket that was still on the chair.  
“Are you leaving?”, she heard Remi’s soft voice. The girl was really sweet. Mikkii had some nice conversation with her throughout the evening until Tomomin was thinking that she needed her piece of the cake and claimed Remi completely.  
“Yes. Be a good girl and take care of Renta and Chie as well. I don’t want them showing up hangover tomorrow. And that’s not a suggestion.”  
“I got it. No need to be angry with me.”  
“Are you talking back?”  
No answer but Mikkii didn’t really pay attention since she was pulled away once again and out of the club. She felt a little shaky when the cold air hit her naked arms and her face, snuggled up closer to the woman who was still supporting her. They stopped beside a car and Wataru threw in the jacket before placing her on one of the seats and herself behind the wheel.  
“I hope you’ll not throw up.”  
“I don’t feel sick”, Mikkii answered.  
“Well then it’s better then. Try getting a little more sober until we arrive.” She placed her phone in the little device and turned on the navigation. “I want you to be sober enough later.”  
She couldn’t really understand the meaning of this, yet all she did was staring out the window, watching the small lights in the dark that drew pictures while the car drove past them. Mikkii’s head fell against the frame beside her and her breath clouded the glass in front of her every once in a while. She tried thinking about what had just happened but her mind failed to let her get any clear thoughts.   
They were driving for a while until the buildings weren’t as close anymore and there was so much more green than before. Mikkii tried to sit up a little more.  
“Where are we?”, she whispered. “That’s not the way home.”  
“I’ll take you home with me, dear. I can’t risk you getting hurt because you can’t find your bedroom or slip on something.”  
Mikkii sighed.  
“Fine…”  
  
For the first time since that little incident with Shiiran, Wataru actually managed to put on a slight smile. She really carefully picked out what drink to give the girl and what to avoid, picking out the perfect moment to finally take her home, however when Shiiran got preferred for the first kiss the girl had in this city over her, she had to admit she felt a little hurt. Hurt and furious. She was sure Miyacchi wouldn’t let that slip past her unnoticed and without consequences, however that wasn’t something she had to focus on right now. She didn’t even care for Miyacchi. Her sister had enough money to get back home save with her girlfriend and would most likely pick up her lover on the way as well.  
Mikkii surely didn’t notice how really drunk she was but less how fast she became sober during their ride. She knew perfectly how well those drinks went in and out of the blood. That didn’t avoid the fact that the girl was still half asleep on the seat beside her. She decided not to drive over to her apartment in the city and instead headed for the old family-house where her parents and her sister used to live in before they died. She still kept it intact to visit every once in a while, kept clothes and food inside and ordered one of her people to check up on everything on a regular basis. Most of the time it was Beni who had to do the dirty work.   
She drove on a little parking spot in front of the house and took a look at it. It had a little garden in front of it and the neighbors were far enough away so that no one would disturb them. Wataru headed out of the car and walked around after she put the phone back into her pocket, opened the door and smiled at little Mikkii. She kind of liked that nickname after she heard Shiiran call her that.   
“Hey sunshine”, she softly said. “Come on. We’re almost there.”  
“I don’t want to get up.”  
She almost saw the younger one fall out the car in her current state. She was really close to the point in between drunk and already sober but not sober enough to stand up on her own.  
“Should I carry you?”  
Her answer were arms stretched into her direction and Wataru smiled even more. The girl was really cute. Now she was sure she made the right choice. Carefully she picked her out of the car, shut the door with a slight push of her hip and rearranged her grip after Mikkii held herself by the older woman’s neck, burying her face in her shoulder. Luckily Wataru was used carrying people around and the girl surely was a lightweight. It made it way too easy to get her into the house, where she simply kicked off her shoes, right up the stairs and into the master bedroom at the end of the hallway to the right where the tree right beside the window on the back of the house reflected the moonlight into the bedroom just enough so she could see what she was doing.   
“You smell nice”, the younger one suddenly said and Wataru laughed slightly.   
“Well thank you.”  
“I want to take your shirt so I can smell it all day long.”  
Wataru raised her eyebrow but still smiled at that. Well that was random, she thought, random but cute.   
“I’ll think about it, okay? But we first need to get you dressed into something a little more comfortable before you fall asleep in your clothes.”  
Mikkii once more grumbled against her shoulder, hugged her tighter and Wataru sat down on the bed, putting the girl on her lap in the process. There were a few things she had to take care of first.  
  
“Mitsuki…”  
“Mikkii”, she corrected, her nose still buried on the other’s shirt. Wataru smelled really, really, really great. She didn’t even know if it was her perfume or just her natural smell but it was addictive. The other sighed and lifted her head up a little until she met some shining brown eyes.  
“Mikkii. Dearest. What you did tonight with Shiiran wasn’t nice, you know?” Wataru’s voice was soft but something inside it made her feel uncomfortable. “I don’t want this to repeat itself.”  
“What did I do?”  
“You kissed her. That shouldn’t have happened.”  
“But she was so nice.” Mikkii looked down as she felt the blush on her face intensifying. “And it felt so good.”  
“You still shouldn’t have done it- You almost made Miyacchi pretty sad.” Mikkii had a questioning look on her face. “Shiiran and my sister are dating, love. It’s a bad move kissing someone who is in a relationship. Don’t you know that?”  
She looked down. So Shiiran and Miyacchi really were a thing? Her head slipped off a little from Wataru’s shoulder and she gulped.  
“I’m sorry”, the redhead murmured. Her chin got pushed up once again and she looked at Wataru’s smile.  
“Just promise this won’t happen again and I’ll forget about it.” Mikkii nodded slightly. She wasn’t even sure if she remembered the next day, however she wouldn’t have done it if she had been sober anyway. She hardly knew Shiiran. Wataru started opening the top button of her blue shirt. “Now then… we should get you out of your clothes, yes?”  
Mikkii blinked and stopped the other from opening the third one while blushing completely.  
“I-I can do it myself. I can change.”  
Mostly because she wasn’t wearing anything under the shirt. Since Shiiran and Renta busted her while changing, her mind had been somewhere else but wearing a bra. She wasn’t particularly big chested, more flat as a board, so she hardly felt it was necessary to wear a bra. Wataru looked at her for a second before she was being picked up again and put down on the bed.  
“Alright then. I get you a shirt and some pants.”  
She expected Wataru to go outside but instead she walked over to a small cupboard, took off her jacket and put it aside before opening one of the buttons of her own shirt and walking over to a wardrobe. She searched for something inside of it really quickly and came back with some clothes in her hand, stopping in front of her. They looked each other for a few seconds and Wataru grinned a little.  
“What is it? I thought you want to get undressed.”  
This was embarrassing, the younger one thought, not because of the getting undressed thing, they were both women after all, but because she didn’t even start and preferred starring at the other woman instead. She looked down and started fondling on her shirt, however she quickly noticed her fingers slipped off the buttons way too much still, which was strange because she felt more or less sober. Once more her boss laughed, kneeled in front of her and put aside the clothes.  
“Maybe I should help you after all. Is it okay for you?”  
Giving up, Mikkii put her hands beside her, gulped before nodding in silence. She shouldn’t feel so humiliated yet she did but Wataru seemed like it was a pretty normal thing which she was thankful for. Maybe she wasn’t the first to behave like an idiot in front of her. Her boss didn’t even look funny when she unbuttoned the shirt completely. The other gave her a checking look once more, carefully pushed her hands under her shirt, on her shoulders and down her arms, taking the fabric with her on the way and Mikkii blushed. She had to admit it felt nice. Really nice. Wataru’s hands were soft and she was careful.  
“Are you alright?”, she asked and Mikkii did a double-take to look at her.  
“Y-Yes”, she answered. “I’m o-okay. It’s just really warm.”  
“I should get you some short pants then?”  
“No! I mean… no not necessary. I’ll be fine.”  
Aside from the fact she felt funny and the thought she couldn’t get rid of. Maybe she could ask Wataru to pet her some more? It surely would feel nice to have more humanly contact after she moved…  
Her boss was already in front of her again, watching her closely after she put aside the blue fabric and started undoing her belt and trousers. She was almost hoping, begging inside that the other would hurry up so she could cool down. The alcohol still made her all fuzzy. Or was she sober? She couldn’t tell. It was all so hazy.   
“You need to get up a little”, Wataru suddenly said. “Here. Just hold yourself on my shoulders and I’ll do the rest.”  
Slowly the younger one tried to get a better grip on her boss’ shoulders, however when she moved just a little she quickly moved both hands into Wataru’s neck, held herself when the other pushed her hands under the waistband on her back, pushed the fabric down. She closed her eyes when she felt the fingertips brushing over the fabric of her panties and she had a hard time concentrating. Even though she lifted up her lower body, she couldn’t really get rid of the hands so instead she tried controlling her breathing into slow breaths instead of panting. She definitely felt like panting and moaning. This felt so different. She had been with people before, yet never feeling like this.   
“You seem nervous, dear”, Wataru whispered, made Mikkii looking at her once again. Her boss had her knee right beside her to support herself and the younger one’s pants were in her knees while Wataru was holding her legs. “I can stop if you want me to.”  
The younger one could only lazily shake her head at that though she didn’t know why she didn’t want to stop. If it felt so good it couldn’t be wrong, could it? Wataru got down in front of her again, pulling down her pants completely and putting it aside. Mikkii couldn’t even remember at what point she got rid of her shoes, however she was sitting there in nothing but her panties, staring at the other woman and felt how the tips of her boss’ hair was touching her fingers. She tried so hard not to dig her fingers into it. Maybe she was staring too hard but Wataru noticed it and pinned her down with her eyes. They stared at one another for a few seconds. Just as Mikkii felt like looking away, Wataru put her hands beside her on the bed, leaned forward a little more so she had to look down at her.  
“You know… I don’t think of myself as your boss right now. Let’s say I’m more of a friend.” Mikkii didn’t quite get what she was pointing at, however she was already distracted watching Wataru taking her hand and putting it up close to her lips. The younger shivered under the breath that was brushing her skin. “To be honest: when I hired you I was hoping we would get a chance to be a little more private. That’s why I was offering you that little help.” When their eyes met again Mikkii felt like melting, felt the faintest touch of Wataru’s lips as she kept on talking. “You don’t need to hold back, Mikkii.”  
  
Wataru started pressing her lips against the younger woman’s palm, felt her shiver under her touch and restrained a satisfied smile. The kiss was followed by another more up on her wrist and before she could hold back any longer, she was tracing kisses over Mikkii’s bare arm. The other buried her free hand in her hair and gripped it slightly, pulling her up and pulled her into a kiss. Wataru didn’t even need to wait for Mikkii to deepen it, however Wataru returned the favor by pushing the younger woman back on the bed and leaned over her. It was fortunate that she didn’t need to undress the youngster anymore, never really broke the kiss while running her fingertips over Mikkii’s neck, down and in between her small, perfectly shaped breasts. She was really too cute. A soft moan hit her lips when she parted for a second from her, took another look over her body. Sometimes Wataru was glad that she had a thing of knowing how people are just by talking to them for a bit. Seeing the girl almost naked under her, how her heart beat hardly against her chest and her breathing heavily, she knew she made the right choice.   
“Enjoy it”, she whispered as she leaned down, pressing small kisses against the other’s neck and still felt Mikkii’s hands holding herself on her back and her hair. The grip intensified when she started nibbling on the rosy skin, sucking it first so slightly, then enough to leave a mark just under where the collar would go. Maybe just the edge would peak out every once in a while, however it was just like she wanted that to be. It would show that Mikkii was hers and everyone knew it.   
Wataru thought about going on for a while more, continued caressing the soft skin under her lips, making her way down and touching and kissing all of the other’s upper body when she noticed how eager Mikkii already was at it. She was arching up every once in a while, her breathing becoming even heavier and she let out a small, high pitched moan when she started sucking on the already hardened tip of her breast. Well someone was sensitive. Then there was no more need for holding back anymore. Wataru readjusted herself, slipping her hand between Mikkii’s legs that were almost wrapped around her own and felt her fingers brushing the wet fabric. Mikkii burst into another moan when she pushed just the tip of her finger inside her, took a little of the fabric with her and biting Mikkii’s shoulder just to hold her down some more. It didn’t take long, just a few more repeated movements to make the younger one rock against her hand, made her whimper and claw her back.   
“Fuck…”, Mikkii huskily moaned when she tensed up some more. Wataru leaned down to her ear.  
“No swearing, dear.”  
She ripped down the panties enough so that the younger could at least get one leg free before she placed her hand back where she thought it belonged for the moment, first thought about going on slow, however it was no problem at all to push two fingers inside the younger woman. Mikkii’s back arched up and she pressed the back of her head into the sheets while she was moaning out even louder than before.   
“Look at me”, Wataru ordered. There was one thing she hated and that was not being looked at during sex. She wanted to see how her partner was thinking of her and her alone, be with her and not with another. Even though she felt the pulsating around her fingers, Mikkii’s needy movement of her hips, she waited until she found the clouded eyes of the other before smiling and running her free hand over her body once more, tracing her sides and her bones.  
“There you go. Stay with me, love.”  
She pushed her fingers in deeper, making it as hard as possible for the other to look at her and making Mikkii almost ruin the expensive shirt she was wearing by ripping it down her shoulders and her face just inches away from hers. Only slowly she picked up a movement, slowly and unsteady at first, but as she kissed the younger another time, she pressed that tiny little point inside the other that made her almost scream into her mouth and ultimately throwing her head back once more. Wataru didn’t even think about stopping there, moved harder and faster inside the wet woman and slowed down when she was breaking their eye connection until she had the feeling that Mikkii could no longer bear it. She was shaking, moving uncontrolled and tried to somehow get a hold of Wataru, tensed up completely at some point and pulled her down. Wataru’s upper body fell on top of the other, her head beside hers on the bed and with Mikkii’s arms around her shoulders. It hurt her wrist by a lot, however having the younger literally scream against her shoulder of lust was totally worth it. She continued moving, slower, but enough to make the others orgasm drag on until she collapsed under her, the red hair stuck on her forehead and panting heavily. Carefully she pulled out her fingers, pushed herself up a little by putting her arms left and right of the other woman and watched her twitching slightly for a second.   
“You’re leaking, dear”, she was joking and pressed another kiss on the corner of Mikkii’s mouth. She couldn’t tell if the younger was even noticing it by the way her eyes fluttered shut more and more. Wataru didn’t even mind. The combination of alcohol and sex was quickly wearing a lot of people out, so she wasn’t surprised that the younger fell into a comalike sleep just as Wataru pushed her more comfortable on the bed. Mikkii rolled on her side when she pulled the cover over and Wataru pressed a small kiss on her shoulder.  
“We’re not done yet. You just don’t know it yet”, she whispered and got up from the bed. She didn’t like sleeping in expensive close, so she would change before joining the younger woman in bed. She was totally convinced that Mikkii was a cuddler and that it wouldn’t take long to have her curling up against her.


	5. The Godfather

Mikkii’s consciousness didn’t kick in immediately. Instead it was lazy curling up on top of her, purred at her to wake her up but not let her be fully aware of her surroundings yet. She felt so warm, cuddled up closer to the source that was directly in front of her and lazily grabbed the soft fabric under her fingers. It smelled so nice, she thought taking another sniff of whatever was under her fingers. She couldn’t quite remember it. The last thing in her mind was getting a drink offered by Wataru, then another until it eventually went black. Whatever. She felt comfortable at where she was right now, and didn’t really want to let go.   
However there was a touch on her head, another on her hand and slowly releasing her grip. Shortly after, the warmth was gone and Mikkii growled in disapproval, rolled around and pulled the cover up even more in order to maintain the warmth that was still in it. She could have sworn that she fell asleep once again but in the hazy state she was in there was no sure way to tell until she finally felt rather cold. Slowly opening her eyes she stared in front of her, her view still only consisting of nothing but blobs of color and no sharp edges whatsoever. The sweet smell of flowers and something she couldn’t put her finger on was overwhelming and making her even more tired. She loved it. Carefully she pushed her heavy body up and the cover slipped over her shoulder, making her almost immediately regret the decision since her naked skin got cold. Wait up…  
“What the…?”, she whispered, leaning her upper body against the wall behind her and lifting the cover just enough to see that she was indeed naked. Well aside from her panties that were still somewhat hanging on her ankle. Mikkii felt herself blushing hard, her head getting red and she pressed her arms with the cover against her upper body, slowly rising from her spot and taking a good look around. The place beside her was slightly messed up, so maybe someone shared the bed with her? Did she… Oh god she didn’t even want to think about it. She couldn’t even remember the last time she slept with another person and whatever happened, she was sure it had been embarrassing.   
Beside the bed on a chair was a neatly folded pack of clothes, another on a small table that was in the other corner of the room. She couldn’t tell what the clothes on the table were, however there was a small piece of paper on the ones on the chair. _‘Get dressed and come get breakfast’_ it said. She knew that handwriting, more specifically: it was Wataru’s. Since she saw her writing all the time and her boss slipped her some notes one time or another, she had a pretty good idea what it looked like and it released one of the many knots in her chest. If she was with Wataru, then nothing had happened, had it? Her boss wouldn’t… or would she? She wasn’t so sure about that.   
“Calm down”, she said to herself. “She’s your boss. She wouldn’t do anything of the sorts.”  
Mikkii forced herself to inhale a few times before she grabbed the clothes. It was nothing special. A T-Shirt, some trousers and underwear. It didn’t fit her perfectly but enough to not make her feel uncomfortable. At least it didn’t fell down when she moved.   
On her way downstairs, she took a closer look at everything. It seemed like a small house, quite old, but clearly renovated with bright floors and few equipment. Actually it felt rather nice. It also didn’t take her long to find her way to the kitchen. Once she left the stairs, she already heard the sizzling of some meat and it smelled heavenly. Following the smell, she entered the white and blue kitchen that had a table in the corner and enough space to feed two families inside. Her boss was standing in front of what she believed to be a stove, humming softly to herself with her back turned. Mikkii knocked softly before completely entering, making her boss turn around.  
“Good morning”, the other said in a happy voice. “I hope you slept well?”  
“Y-Yes. Thank you.”  
“No hangover?”  
“Not really. I feel a bit fuzzy but that’s about it.”  
Wataru put on a smile that she couldn’t quite put her finger on before turning and continue her cooking.  
“Do me a favor and get the dishes out of the drawer. They are to your left.”  
  
Mikkii still couldn’t tell why she felt so strange when she was sitting beside her boss while said woman served more food than she had seen in weeks. Maybe it was because Wataru made it seem so normal, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Mikkii could hardly look at her while she forced down some of her food (she felt a little bit sick in the stomach) and decided that her chopsticks were way more important than eye contact with her boss.   
“Is everything alright, dear?”, Wataru suddenly started and Mikkii forced her eyes to meet hers. It couldn’t be so bad, right? Maybe she didn’t even know that she fell asleep naked in that bed. “You seem a little off.”  
“I’m just thinking.”  
“About what? Yesterday?”  
“… I… I-I can’t remember yesterday. That’s the point, I guess”, Mikkii mumbled against the food she put in her mouth. The taller woman put down her bowl together with her chopsticks and let out a silent, sad sigh.  
“Now that is disappointing.”  
Mikkii blinked.  
“What? Why?”  
“Because the two of us had quite some fun.”  
The way of how easy those words came over the other’s lips almost made Mikkii fall off her chair. Instead she almost choked her rice before coughing it up.  
“W-What? We… what? What?!”  
Wataru raised her eyebrows.  
“I suppose you didn’t look in the mirror today.”  
“No! I mean…”  
“And why are you overreacting like that anyway? It’s the most natural thing. Nothing to be so shocked of.”  
Mikkii fell back in her chair, stared at her boss and rubbed the back of her neck. She still had no memory of the last night but did she and Wataru…? Without saying another word she got up from her spot, quickly left the kitchen to search for something that resembled a bathroom. Instead she found a mirror right beside the stairs that she had walked by earlier and just as she looked inside she knew what the other was talking about. A bright blue and violet spot was peeking out from under the high cut, green shirt and Mikkii felt getting even paler than before when the images flashed up bright before her inner eye. She felt the soft sucking on her neck, the way it wanted to make her moan once again and she fell back a little. Instead of the side of the stairs, she hit Wataru’s warm body who held her up and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.  
“There, there”, her boss whispered. “No need to overreact like this. I told you it’s nothing bad.”  
Mikkii held herself on the other’s arms, gulped hard. The more she thought about it, the more came back at an instant. She remembered how good her boss’ hands felt on her skin, how she pulled her in a kiss and the words that had been whispered to her. She turned her head a little to look at Wataru who was just smiling at her.  
“But… but I mean… we… y-you’re my boss.”  
“And? What about it?”  
“Is that even legal?”  
Wataru let off a small laugh.  
“Babe… listen: no one needs to know about it.” The older put her hand on her cheek, pulling her closer until Mikkii could feel the breathing against her lips. “And to be honest I had my eye on you when I was hiring you.”  
Suddenly so distracted by what Wataru was doing, she felt getting herself in a rather uncomfortable position. No matter if they had sex before, she was sober now and her boss was way too close to comfort. Mikkii lowered her head a little since this was the only way she saw possible to avoid the other. She still wasn’t really awake, had no orientation on where she was and there was her very own boss hitting on her.  
“Wataru I’m not sure… I… uhm…” She looked up shyly. “I-I don’t know if I can do this.”  
“Why not?”  
“It feels…” She sighed. How to put this? “… not right, I guess?”  
Wataru sighed, pulled on her shoulder to turn her around completely, cupped her face in her hands and forced her to look up at the older one and shortly after Mikkii felt her fingers in her hair. Also the other seemed way more serious all of the sudden. Not her lips, they were still curled into a smile, but her eyes.   
“No one has to know, honey. No one is allowed to know but I also would like to have you sober as well. I hardly had anyone so sweet around me and maybe if you play along, there are going to be some benefits for you as well.” Mikkii looked puzzled at her and Wataru let out another laugh. “You already forgot? I told you I might help you with your little singing career. You have proven to be a hard worker and a good singer but I think that might not be enough.” Wataru brought herself incredibly close to Mikkii’s ear, whispering, and a shiver ran down her spine that almost shook her entire body. “Let me be your godfather. Be a good girl and do me a few favors and I’ll return them. I can make all your tiny little wishes come true.”  
Mikkii closed her eyes, gulped when she felt her head getting turned once again. She wasn’t allowed something like this but this was just like exchange of favors, wasn’t it? It still felt strange but not wrong. It didn’t feel wrong in the beginning. Also Wataru’s hands felt quite nice actually, the way they ran through her hair and making her hazy mind even fuzzier by placing her lips on her own . She moaned softly feeling how the soft fingers slipped under her shirt.  
  
Still sitting on the bed with the cover pulled up to her hip, Renta blew some smoke from her cigarettes up into the air. Some people may called that disgusting, for her it was nothing more than breakfast. Slowly she got up, ignored the still sleeping girl in the covers and started searching around for her clothes. Usually she wasn’t really up at this hour and if she was after she spent the night with another, she usually stayed in bed until her partner awoke. This time however she was just utterly bored, so she might as well got up and go her way. It was not like she would see the girl anytime again. She was just another pointless one-night-stand and not even a good one. The blonde slipped into her clothes, turned out her cigarette by pushing it into the ashtray beside the bed which still contained the ones from the night before, grabbed her jacket and left the apartment just to be blinded by the light of day. Immediately she put on her sunglasses. She never had been a dayperson really, preferred to come out her cave when it was already dark again and went to sleep when the sun rose. Shiiran sometimes called her vampire.   
“Now where the fuck am I?”, she wondered to herself, looked up and down the street before she sighed and decided to walk down the street. Once she found the next train station, she should kind of get an idea of how to get home. Yet once she passed a few houses, the phone in her pocket started to ring violently. She didn’t even need to take a closer look at it to know it was Miyacchi.  
“Where are you?”, the angry voice growled as she picked it up.  
“That’s what I wondered just a few moments ago. Good morning to you too by the way.”  
“I want you over here in an hour.”  
“That horny, Miya-chan? Why don’t you take your girlfriend instead of me for once?”  
“You know that’s not the same. I just need you for pleasure so don’t even think you’re a big deal.”  
“Yeah I know. Whatever. But since I have no fucking clue where I am, I suppose you either have to take Shiiran or you have to wait until I figure out how the hell I get off here.”  
“I don’t like to repeat myself, Sayuri.” Renta rolled her eyes. She hated it when Miyacchi used her real name. “One hour. All you’ve got. I want you here before Wataru gets here.”  
Renta had to smirk even wider.  
“Scared of your sister?”  
“Me? No. But you should be if she finds out you’re not taking my orders seriously.”  
“Hey it’s you who wants to be dominated.”  
“And if I want to, I’ll cut off your hands and break your neck. How does that sound?”  
Immediately her smile fell off. She knew this was not a threat.  
“Fine. An hour it is.”  
Miyacchi didn’t even say goodbye and Renta didn’t expect her to do so. She sighed, sped up her steps to reach at least a taxi or something. Miyacchi sadly was more like her boss. That woman controlled her life ever since Wataru had picked her up from the alley, gave her a job she was actually good at and something like a life. In return, she had to do everything that pathetic little princess wanted, including her strange lifestyle. Miyacchi claimed Shiiran as her girlfriend and Renta knew she was nothing more like an affair to the princess, yet she was glad it was this way and not the other way around. Usually Miyacchi was really picky about who was and who was not allowed to have contact with Shiiran and used Renta to keep track of the drummer. She didn’t even know where Miyacchi picked up Shiiran. Rumors said that she knew Shiiran since schooldays, others that Shiiran used to be a prostitute. The possibilities were endless and some of them even said that she shared the same fate as Renta had. The blonde shook her head violently.  
“No more”, she murmured to herself. “I’m not going back.”  
  
“Go home.”  
“… Are you still angry?”  
“I can’t even start of how angry I am.”  
“Miya I told you I’m sorry! It won’t happen again.”  
“No it won’t. Make sure it doesn’t. If you think I’m already furious about your little slip with that Tenju-girl, then you do not want to see what beast Wataru is going to be if that doesn’t work out in her favor.”  
Shiiran became quiet, got up from her spot on the table and watched Miyacchi fall back on hers after she came back from phoning somebody. She didn’t hear what the conversation was all about but judging after how angry the princess was, it hadn’t been a nice one. After she had left the party with Miyacchi, the other was in everything but a good mood. The night she had spent with her had been brutal and Shiiran didn’t even dare to take a look at her back or her legs. Not to mention that she still felt stiff and tired.   
“I’m sorry”, she whispered, not even looking at the other woman.  
“Didn’t I tell you to leave?”  
Shiiran didn’t talk back again and instead fled the apartment as quickly as she possibly could, growling to herself and burying her hands in her pockets. Sometimes she hated this. She hated every bit of this and she hated it to pieces. She hated being the pet to another human being just because those people happened to have the power to either help them or doom them forever. Wataru in particular and her so called sister with it. Behind those nice facades lay devils and demons beyond believe. She thought back to that kiss she shared with Mikkii. That had been so different, sweet and innocent, something she wasn’t used to anymore. When she kissed Miyacchi, the princess always made sure to show her who wore the pants around in the relationship. With all the mistakes Shiiran had already made in their relationship, she even wondered why Miyacchi was still her girlfriend. She couldn’t even remember how they became like that. One day the princess simply decided that Shiiran was no longer allowed to meet other people aside from the ones she approved of and that surely meant that she wasn’t allowed to talk to Mikkii anymore either. Damn it. She just happened to really like that girl though she knew that she was just around so Wataru could play her little game again that she had been running even before Shiiran got into the band.   
Once she was far enough from Miyacchi’s apartment, Shiiran reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a small, very old cellphone. A little gem she kept which was not tapped and controlled by the devilsisters. She quickly looked up Mikkii’s number she got earlier before she punched in a quick message into the other device.  
 __  
I really need to talk to you. Alone. It’s about earlier and I need to apologize. There are also a few things you really need to know.  
Please don’t tell anybody I messaged you or we both will get into trouble.  
Shiiran  
  
Shiiran felt her heart pound when she sent off the message, gulped before hiding away her phone once more. She just hoped Mikkii was smart enough not to fall for Wataru like many other did before her. She sighed and continued walking down the street.  
  
Wataru decided not to make a secret out of her getting a little sugar from her new waitress. Why should she? The club they entered together was hers anyway, the people did what she wanted without ever questioning her and everyone else didn’t really care. When no one was talking about it, it didn’t happen, it was easy as that.  
“I’ll see you later, yes?”, she whispered to the younger redhead, let her hand run over the others back and watched her walking off with a small nod. She saw the cute little mark peeking out of from under the collar even though Mikkii tried to pull it up. While she walked past Shuu cleaning the tables, Teru counting bottles, Beni cleaning glasses she looked over to her sister who was already rehearsing one or another of her songs. Aside from Chie, no one else was there anyway, but it wasn’t like Miya needed any other people to be able to hit notes. Surely she was waiting for Renta once again. She always did when she showed up without Shiiran around and the way she ignored Wataru this may was actually true.   
She quickly made her way to her office, opened up the door (she kept it unlocked since no one dared to enter it anyway and she had everything important carefully locked up in a safe only she knew the password to), however when she did the thick scent of smoke hit her right in the face.  
“What the… who the…”  
“About time you show up.”  
Wataru sighed deeply, walked over and opened the window from in between the bars she had installed on them.  
“I thought I told you not to smoke in here.”  
She heard the other get up, walk over to her and as she turned around, the other blew the smoke right in her face, making her cough and her eyes teary.  
“I don’t give a fuck.” One hand wandered off in the back of her neck and Wataru sighed. She couldn’t be mad at her. She wrapped one arm around the smaller woman’s waist. “But you’re late.”  
“No you’re early.”  
“You know I love checking up on my best friend, Yoh-chan.”  
Wataru smiled a little.  
“Let me guess… you heard I hired another again, Sae.”  
Saeko, or Ayaki Nao for everyone else, was her best friend and her ex-girlfriend. Sadly to add she was also already more or less married to another, unofficially but it did the job. The ring on her finger was proove enough for that.   
“Well I have to see what you try to replace me with this time. Usually they turn out to be rather talented.”  
“I’m not even sure if she’s any good right now.”  
“So you do have another pet?”  
“She’s pretty cute actually.”  
“And? When do I get to see her this time?”  
“I plan to let her rehears with the others this week. Maybe in two weeks or so.”  
Saeko pouted slightly, sighed and tilted her head. Her short black hair fell over her ear, revealing the sparkling diamond earrings.   
“Ow. This long? But I have one or two shows coming up and I need a new face.”  
“I still don’t get why you don’t want Miyacchi for this.”  
“Because she’s too much like you and I know you better than anybody else. I don’t need anyone who gets tired of what she’s doing so quickly like you or your stepsister do.”  
“She will behave.”  
Saeko smiled wider.  
“No she won’t and we both know that. Just let me see what this girl can do and I decide whether or not I give Miya a chance.”  
Wataru rolled her eyes. Just because Saeko didn’t like her little sister she was making such a fuzz out of it. Maybe that was the reason why Miya ignored her earlier. She knew how well she still got along with Saeko and that she wouldn’t say no to her. Before she knew it, Saeko leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Damn how badly she wanted to kiss her properly.   
“See you around then, Yoh-chan.”  
She watched Saeko walk over to the door, inhaled another breath from her cigarette and Wataru couldn’t help but look at her rather erotic backside. In that black shirt and those tight pants with high boots she really was something and once again Wataru regretted that their relationship once more. However she knew what she had to pick up later.  
  
Beni sighed softly the first time when she saw the boss’ ex-girlfriend simply walking in like she owned the place, the second time when she noticed how Mikkii more or less embarrassed tried to slip through them and got straight to work.   
“Seems Wataru didn’t lose any time, did she?”, Teru murmured beside her while Beni continued watching the redhead cleaning off the stools, her shirt slipping one time or another and revealing the marks on her neck and the way Mikkii refused to pull up her sleeves, Beni only guessed that she had some on her arms as well.   
“No. Though I really thought that Mikkii would resist longer than that.”  
“Maybe Wataru pulled her deal-card again? Would look like her.”  
Beni looked over to Teru who just put back another bottle in the counter.   
“I’m really sorry for her. You think we can do something for her?”  
Teru looked at her in silence for a few seconds.  
“Not if you want to keep your job”, the older of them whispered. “And your life for that matter. And I don’t know about you, but I like my life as it is now.” Teru threw a small gaze over to Mikkii. “Let’s just see how this turns out. Maybe we’re lucky and she finds out for herself that Wataru is a cheater before Wataru takes everything from her. She seems like a smart girl.”  
“Well if we’re lucky she gets that job she’s applying for.”  
“What job?”  
“She said something about an audition earlier. If she gets it, I suppose she’s out of here. That would only work in her favor.”  
“You don’t really think this would work”, Teru sighed, put back another bottle. “You know Ayaki is sitting behind the scenes around here and she will definitely know that Mikkii is working here AND that she won’t give her anything without Wataru’s approval.”  
Beni stayed silent for a few seconds, looked over to the door where Renta just marched in.  
“I guess you’re right”, she murmured.


	6. Obeying the System

“Shiiran!”   
Wataru’s loud voice echoed through the hall just as she entered the room and wanted to make her way up the stage. The others were already up there, Chie and Miyacchi already rehearsing some songs, Renta, Remi and Tomomin tuning their instruments. Shiiran gulped and flinched, looked over to the smiling woman in front of the backstage door.  
“Yes?”, Shiiran answered, hurried to get down the stairs again and towards Wataru. “What is it?”  
“Can I talk to you for a moment? It’s nothing big.”  
“Could it wait until after the show? I’m pretty late…”  
“I know…” Wataru interrupted her. “… that you’re late. I still want to talk to you. It will just take a minute. Come.”  
As if she had a choice. Her boss turned on her heel and the drummer followed with her tail between her legs. She wondered what exactly Wataru wanted to talk about. The first thing coming to her mind was the incident with Mikkii that still was stuck in her head. Hell, she could still taste that kiss, feel the skin under her fingertips and it drove her insane, however she had seen Mikkii when she had entered the door and one thing she couldn’t fail to notice were the blue marks on her neck. Quite obviously Wataru already got what she wanted and Shiiran felt her heart get heavy.   
Yet that all was literally beaten out of her skull when she entered the boss’ office. Just as the door was closed and she turned around, Wataru’s hand made painful contact with her face, made Shiiran trip and fall over the chair that was just beside the door. She panted heavily, held her red cheek and tried pushing herself up. Everything inside her ears rang, her view was blurry and she felt the mark Wataru’s ring on her ring finger would leave on her face. Instead of letting her get up, Wataru shook her hand as if to shake off the pain that she had caused her and pinned her on the floor, held her down by burying her heel in her shoulder.  
“And who the fuck do you think you are, Shiiran?” Wataru’s voice dropped and she ignored Shiiran’s whining attempt to get rid of her foot. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”  
“I’m not sure what…” Shiiran screamed out in pain when her boss buried her heel deeper inside her shoulder.  
“Do you?! Answer me, Shiiran!”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”, Shiiran felt her eyes tearing up.   
“You don’t?” Wataru’s dark and sweet voice made her shake even harder. Her boss reached down, put down the foot but instead pulled her up just to slam her against the next cupboard. “Then let me give you a hint.”  
Shiiran panted, couldn’t do anything but watch her boss reaching slowly inside her pocket and pulled out a mobile phone with a small Mickey-Mouse-keychain. She gulped hard and felt herself shaking harder.  
“Do you know what this is?”, Wataru’s honeylike voice ran down her ears, tickled her neck and Shiiran felt like it would etch away her skin. She hardly managed to shake her head. “This is Mikkii’s phone. I took the liberty of taking a peek after it rang while she was in the bathroom. I thought maybe it was a concerned message from her parents but what did I find?” She didn’t even wait for Shiiran to answer. “It’s interesting really. I still wonder what you want to tell her. Maybe that you liked kissing her? Or maybe about how much you owe me? Or did you want to tell her that she should go away?” Wataru brought her face closer, close enough so that Shiiran could feel the breath on her skin and smelled the small hint of cigarettes on her clothes. “I wouldn’t like that, Shiiran.”  
“I-I’m sorry”, Shiiran then whimpered. “I didn’t mean to…”  
“I believe you did. You like her, don’t you? Not that I can’t understand. She’s sweet, pretty and really cute. And guess what: she’s mine. Not yours, not Miyacchi’s, mine alone. Just as this club is mine, just as all the people working here are mine and just as you belong to me. Everything you are and everything you own is my property. I picked you up, I gave you everything you need and I even allowed you to be with my sister. You on the other hand will behave and no one will get hurt.” Wataru let her go and Shiiran almost slipped down the cupboard. “So… did I make myself clear? Or do I need to show the contract you made with me to your parents?”  
Shiiran violently shook her head even if it made the world around her spin.  
“P-Please don’t…”, she begged, sobbed softly. The tears running down her face burned even more.  
“Good girl. Remember it the next time you try to lay hand on what is mine.” Her boss grabbed her collar and pulled her over to the door, started hissing into her ear. “Now go cover it up. I don’t want any more incidents like this. I’m your godfather, remember? And you won’t run away from me.”

Whatever it was, the next days felt kind of strange. Maybe she was hallucinating, but people around her behaved differently. Beni and Teru were still very nice to her and Renta came over every once in a while just to take things out of her fridge, however it was something different she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Miyacchi was suddenly really nice to her. It seemed kind of pressed on at first yet Mikkii came to like her really quickly. She had a unique character one had to learn to deal with, like her habit always being really close to someone, however most of the time she was just clinging on Shiiran anyway when they showed up together. Speaking of Shiiran: the drummer on the other hand pulled back a lot from her. They hardly ever talked anymore. Maybe something happened with Miyacchi? She couldn’t tell.  
Well she had other things in mind and a lot more things to do anyway. She was still preparing for the role she really wanted to have, she was still working hard (if not harder than ever) and Wataru knew how she could consume of whatever time was left for her. Not that it bothered her in any way, though she sometimes felt uncomfortable when Wataru was staring at her a little too intense during work when she was talking to some people to earn extra money. Well at least she got something out of it. Wataru had a sense for when she was uncomfortable and when she was, her boss came around and got her some small presents. Nothing like sweets or such things, more handy things like new shirts or a new trouser. The only accessory her boss ever got her was a golden ring with green gemstones Mikkii gladly put on. It was really pretty and she thought it suited her well. When she wasn’t wearing it on her finger, she put it on a necklace around her neck and under her shirt so it wouldn’t get dirty while she cleaned up.   
“Mikkii?” She lifted her head towards Miyacchi. “Would you come here for a second? My sister wants to see you.”  
The younger one sent a confused gaze towards Beni, who proved to be something like her mentor when it came to the club. Of course Wataru was the boss, however Beni was way closer to her age and they got along pretty well. Beni made a hand gesture so that she should follow the princess and so Mikkii hurried over to her.  
“What does she want?”, she asked when she reached the other but didn’t get an answer. Wataru never called her over when she was sitting in her office. She said they should keep the relationship (or whatever it was called) outside the club and in their houses. Well that had the advantage that shortly after Wataru had visited her one time, the next day she had almost half the club in front of her apartment and all were ordered to help her clean up the mess with boxes and put everything away nicely.   
She entered the office and Miyacchi closed the door behind her. Wataru was sitting on her table, having two separate piles of paper in front of her and another piece in front of her where she was writing on. She was more irritated by the woman who was standing by her side, leaning over her shoulder and they were obviously talking.  
“Ah. There you are”, Wataru said and put on a smile before turning to the woman beside her. “That’s the girl I told you about.”  
“I see. And I also see what you were talking about. Cute indeed.” The woman smiled widely and walked over to her. “Ayaki Nao’s the name. Nice to meet you, Mikkii.”  
Mikkii bowed to the woman, softly said hello before the woman put a hand on her back and moved her towards the desk. There, Wataru already had one of the piles of paper in her hand, handing them over to her. Mikkii took a second to open a random page. These were music notes.  
“What are these for?”, she asked, looked over to Miyacchi who joined her side and then back to Wataru. The older one laughed slightly.  
“These are for your rehearsals”, she answered and Mikkii couldn’t help but smile. Before she got the chance to say anything, Wataru turned back to the Ayaki-lady. “And I trust that you take care of Miyacchi?”  
“Oh aren’t we a little fast?” Ayaki turned to her and pet her cheek slightly. “I first want to make sure your little cookie here is worthy taking over the job. After all I need to know what I’m managing here.”  
“Managing?”, Mikkii asked silently, earning another laugh from Wataru.  
“Yes, managing. Saeko is Miyacchi’s manager. To be honest she manages the whole band. At least what’s associated with bigger deals and things outside the club. And since Miyacchi is just about to start her solo career, we need a new lead singer.”  
“And once again, Yoh-chan, you should really not rush things. Let’s see how rehearsals go tomorrow and then we talk about going solo.”  
The woman grinned over at Miyacchi, who was just rolling her eyes at her. Mikkii once more blinked in confusion and frowned her eyebrows.  
“Wataru?”, she said carefully. “I… My audition is tomorrow.”  
Her boss tilted her head, crossed her hands on the table.  
“I don’t see a problem here.”  
“Don’t rehearsals start around midday?”  
“Yes.”  
“But my audition is that time. I took the day off.”  
“I still don’t see a problem.”  
“It’s important to me.”  
“It’s important that you show up tomorrow or I will get really mad, dear.”  
“But…”  
Wataru got up from her seat.  
“No ‘But’ Mikkii. You will show up tomorrow. Even if it means dropping your audition.” Wataru walked around her table, passed Miyacchi and stopped in front of her, taking her hands. “Just think about it for a second, yes? If you go to the auditions now, no one will recognize you. I know you had small scenes back where you lived but this is the big city. The real world. If you don’t get reputation first, they will kick you out the door without even looking at you. And I’m sure Saeko can turn one or two wheels if you behave and do as we say.” Mikkii stared down and gulped. “I’ll see you tomorrow for rehearsals then, yes?”  
“Okay”, Mikkii mumbled for herself.  
“I can’t hear you, dear.”  
“It’s okay. I’ll show up.”  
“Good girl.” Wataru let go of her. “I come and pick you up in a few hours. You’re not going on stage like this. We’re going to get you some proper clothes. Go continue your work now. I have to work out a few things here.”  
  
Renta finished tuning her guitar when she saw Miyacchi taking Mikkii backstage with her. Still chewing on what was left of her lollipop, she looked over her shoulder to Shiiran. Once more, the drummer kind of seemed off. Actually it was no surprise. Even though she had tried to cover it up, Renta had noticed the blue marks in her face a few days before. However Shiiran never actually talked about why she got a beating. Wataru had her ways getting what she wanted but usually she never needed to raise her hand against them. She had much more subtle ways to make them obey. She threw a quick look over to Tomomin who was still tuning her instrument with Chie’s help and Remi who was busy listening to her iPod. She walked over to Shiiran and leaned over to her.  
“What’s up with you lately?”, she asked silently enough for the others not to hear them.  
“Leave me alone. I’m just not in the mood for anything.”  
“Don’t give me that. Is the princess treating you badly again?”  
“Not worse than usual.”  
“Then why are you making that face? And you can hardly kept the rhythm yesterday, so what is it?”  
“I rather not talk about it.”  
“Come on. I’m your best friend.” She softly punched Shiiran’s left arm. “Is it about Mikkii?”  
Finally Shiiran looked up at her, raised one eyebrow.  
“Why should it be about her?”  
Renta couldn’t help but grin widely.   
“Everyone heard about your little kiss in the closet when we were out. You were lucky it worked out in the king’s favor or the consequences surely wouldn’t work out in your best interest.”  
Shiiran stayed quiet for a second before tilting her head.  
“… I had no idea you know a word like ‘consequences’.”  
“Not that I can’t understand. I really would like… you know…” Renta licked her fingertip. “Just to see how she reacts.”  
“Don’t let Wataru hear that”, Shiiran mumbled, turning her head back to her drums and suddenly so much deeper in thought than before. Renta had a close idea of what she was thinking about, however she didn’t like that hard expression on the other’s face. The last time she had seen it was when she first got together with Miyacchi. Back then, she jokily flirted with Miyacchi and Shiiran had been mad at her for almost a week because of it. Somehow that died down over the years. Now the drummer didn’t even care when Miyacchi was dancing with drunk-Chie and Chie let her hands slip into the younger’s asspockets. Renta leaned down more, so her face was close enough to notice even the small flinches of Shiiran’s eyes.  
“… What?”, Shiiran growled, looking at the blonde.  
“You’re jealous”, Renta whispered, quickly checking if anyone was listening before she hissed on. “You said you wouldn’t care! But you do! That’s why you don’t talk to her!”  
“I’m just trying to keep my distance, okay?! Wataru already watches me with an evil eye because I was dumb enough to let her kiss me!”  
“You were only stupid enough to get caught.”  
“Because it felt that fucking good and I shouldn’t feel that way!”  
Renta raised her eyebrows, loudly exhaled and stood up, crossed her arms. What to answer to this? She couldn’t tell and by the way Shiiran once more stared on her instrument she didn’t want to hear about it anyway. The guitarist looked over her shoulder when the door got opened and Mikkii, a pile of paper in her hands and her head down, walked out of it. She decided to leave Shiiran behind, jump down the stage and throw her arm around the redhead. She didn’t need to look at the papers to know what these were. The princess already told her that Ayaki finally agreed to put her on a bigger stage once there was proper replacement. And what was a better replacement than Wataru’s favorite pet?  
“What’s with that face, Mikkii?” She poked the younger’s face. “Come on. Smile.”  
Mikkii slapped her hand away and growled.  
“Leave me alone, Renta.”  
“What happened?”  
“I’m rehearsing with you tomorrow.”  
“Shouldn’t that be a good thing?”  
Mikkii growled at her more loudly, took off her arm and walked towards another door, leading to the changing rooms, so Renta decided to follow her once again, closed the door behind her and leaned against the frame. She watched while she opened her locker, put the paper in her bag and slammed shut the door.  
“Why are you so angry about it?”, the blonde asked more soft this time. With no one around to hear her, she didn’t feel the need to put on a cocky smile.  
“I prepared for my auditions for weeks and now I can’t go.”  
“You have more auditions planned.”  
“But this is the first one and I really would have liked to play that role.” Mikkii kicked against the locker. “It’s bullshit. I have to ask Wataru if we can start the day after tomorrow.”  
“You shouldn’t”, Renta immediately threw in, pushed herself off the door and met Mikkii’s confused eyes.  
“Why not?”  
“Believe me when I tell you that you shouldn’t. If it was Wataru’s order, you have to come tomorrow one way or another.”  
“I’ll go to the auditions. What’s the worst she can do? Throw me out?”  
“Believe me: you don’t want her against you.”  
Mikkii inhaled once again, yes she was cut by the soft clicking of the door. Much to Renta’s surprise, it was Shiiran to slowly walk in, taking a peek outside and closing the door behind her once more. The two women were deadly quiet while the drummer walked over to them, her head down and gulping. She slowly looked up to Renta before meeting Mikkii’s eyes.  
  
Mikkii looked back and forth between Shiiran and Renta until she decided to fix Shiiran.  
“I…”, Shiiran stuttered, scratching her neck and inhaling once more. “I heard you’ll start rehearsing with us tomorrow?”  
“I was just thinking about not coming.”  
She already told Wataru that these auditions were important to her the very first day and her boss had said that it was okay. That she could go on that day and now she just changed her mind. She wasn’t allowed to do that, was she? Agreement or not, she wanted to go to these auditions. She could come to work after that, so there wouldn’t be a problem, right?  
Shiiran threw another gaze over to Renta and Mikkii saw her losing a little bit of color around her nose.  
“Not coming? But you have to if Wataru said so.”  
“Who says that?”  
“Your contract says that”, Renta interfered.  
“My contract is a standard working contract, just like everyone else’s. I read it over”  
“Well that’s what you think.”  
Mikkii frowned and crossed her arms.  
“What is that supposed to mean?”  
She watched while Shiiran was grabbing Renta’s arm, hissing something she couldn’t understand. The two turned their backs towards her, started silently arguing. Mikkii leaned closer to somehow understand what they were saying, yet they simply hissed in each other’s faces.   
“Fine!”, Shiiran suddenly growled. “Fine I’ll tell her. Get the fuck out.”  
“Shiiran…”  
“Renta it’s not okay if we both get in trouble and I don’t trust you in handling these things. So go out.”  
The blonde sighed, nodded slightly before turning on her heel.  
“Fine. I’ll talk to Beni.”  
With that she went outside. Mikkii couldn’t even start on how confused she was by all of this. What did all of this have to do with her contract and her auditions? She only planned this to be temporary and maybe letting Wataru help her out just a little bit when things didn’t work out. However when she saw Shiiran’s worried face she became quiet concerened.  
“Sit”, the drummer said silently, placed herself on the bench and patted beside her. Mikkii hesitated, yet sat down.  
“I suppose you owe me an answer now?”, the redhead asked and leaned forward to get a better look at Shiiran.  
“I think so. But you have to promise me not to tell anybody. I will get in way more trouble than you and in way more than I already am.”   
Mikkii nodded, watched Shiiran nervously play with her fingers and leaning on her upper legs.  
“Okay. I promise.”  
However Shiiran only slowly started talking.  
“You know… when people start here it’s always the same. There are people who can’t deal with it and people who get used to it. The ones being used to it work inside this club for years and…”  
“You’re not answering the question, Shiiran”, Mikkii interfered. “What does this have to do with my contract.”  
“W-Well you see… She hands out the working contract for people to read. Somewhere inside it is a small number, referring to another sheet of paper. According to the contract she gave you, she’s not obligated to show it to you and if you ask her about it, she’ll say it’s some weird shit about healthcare. But what it is, is a slave contract and according to contract we are not allowed to tell anyone. Everything we own and everything we do belongs to Wataru and her family and she can do as she pleases. By signing the working contract, Wataru is in total control of our possessions, our time, our behavior and our bodies.”  
Mikkii felt herself getting paler as Shiiran continued and her mouth dried up.  
“But… but there has to be a way…”  
“There isn’t. I made the mistake to let the contract getting checked by a lawyer. I can’t get out of it. No one can. Wataru wrote it so it slips right through laws and until she says the contract is invalid, we are all stuck here. I lost my privileges by disobeying her and now the only thing that keeps me more or less save is my place in the band and my relationship with Miyacchi.”  
“… What privileges?” Mikkii was afraid to ask. She didn’t like the sound of that. Shiiran looked at her with sad and tired eyes.  
“Wataru picked me up when I was running from my parents. She gave me a home, everything I needed. When I needed to, I could just come up to her and she would comfort me. She promised me that I would easily get on my own feet and that I could live my dream by playing in her band, maybe be famous one day and get away from my parents for good. However when I made the mistake of questioning the contract I made with her, she got so angry at me that I lost my status as her favorite. She is changing them up ever since and every single one broke so far at one point.”   
Mikkii tensed up. So Shiiran had been in her position once? But could Wataru just do this to people? She couldn’t force them to stay just because she said so. She could just walk away if she wanted to, couldn’t she?  
“Please don’t think of running…”, Shiiran suddenly said and Mikkii looked at her once again. “Just… please don’t…”  
“But why? I can’t just let her do as she pleases!”  
“You saw the woman in her office, didn’t you? Ayaki Nao?” Shiiran’s voice sounded way more tired than before, however Mikkii nodded. “That’s her best friend. Her partner. Ayaki manages our band.”  
“I know that already.”  
“But it doesn’t stop there. Ayaki’s wife owns each and every theatre in this region. She decides what actresses will become big and which won’t. Wataru’s other friend, Asami Hikaru, owns a small company but that company pulls the strings on the mightiest men all over Japan. Asami knows more people of power and Ayaki has friends and Wataru knows even more people…” Shiiran inhaled, her voice starting to shake up and her hands trembling. “So basically… if you piss one of them off, you’re basically done.” Shiiran slowly raised her hand, pulled back some of Mikkii’s red hair and watched her for a second. “Just… let Wataru have her way. You won’t even feel anything different. As long as you don’t talk back to her, she’ll be perfect and you’ll have everything and I promise you’ll have fun with the band. Everything is just about obeying the system.”  
“… Why are you telling me all of this?”, Mikkii finally said out of breath. All the information was way too much for her to handle.  
“Because I care for you.”


	7. Timeout

“Hey Beni?” Beni looked up from her list and took out the lollipop she had in her mouth. “Can you do me a favor?”  
“I already gave you one of my lollipops. What else do you want?”  
“It’s not about that. Though it was really tasty.” Beni rolled her eyes at the blonde, however when Renta leaned closer to her, the smile that was just about to creep on her face faded. “Remember when we talked to Shiiran about the kingdom?”  
The guitarist didn’t need to talk any further for Beni to understand. They knew each other for forever and she knew perfectly well what was up. The kingdom was the contract, Wataru their king and Miyacchi their princess. For the two of them, all of them just belonged to Wataru’s pride and she ruled them with a strict hand.   
Beni followed the other’s gaze over to the door to the changing rooms, nodded slightly and looked around. As much as she liked the others, she already knew that Wataru had her spies everywhere and maybe it was for the best if no one noticed that Shiiran was inside there with Mikkii. Renta made her way back up the stage.  
“What did she want?”, Teru asked when she rejoined her side, leaned on the counter and flipped through her pages.  
“Gossiping. You know her. I think she really is jealous about Miyacchi when she has to get so angry about Shiiran smelling like sex.”  
Teru laughed. At least that worked. While she continued talking, she carefully slipped one of the bottles she was counting inside the cabin under the sink, behind some cleaning utensils.   
“Do you think they will ever work it out or will it stay in this weird threesome?”  
“Well…”  
In the corner of her eyes she saw Wataru and Miyacchi accompanying Ayaki out from backstage. She threw a smile over to Teru. Maybe it was time that she took advantage of Wataru’s obviously good mood in order to get away with nothing more but a blue mark.   
“Excuse me for a second, will you?”  
Beni felt her throat already going dry when she left the counter and walked up to the three women. Ayaki was just saying goodbye, ignoring Miyacchi as usual, before she left the club and Wataru stared after her. It was easy to see what their boss was thinking about and Beni guessed that she would search for Mikkii just because of it. The king tended to let out his mood and frustration on his pet but if she found out that she was getting what Beni liked to refer to as ‘the talk’, she would be letting out her anger on all of them as well. She still remembered starving for days when Shiiran pissed her off back in her day.   
“Ah, Beni”, Wataru said when she was walking up to her. “I was just about to call out to you. Have you seen Mitsuki?”  
She scratched her head as if she had to think about it for a second before she shrugged.  
“Nope. Haven’t seen here since she walked up to your office. But I thought I might tell you that we miss out one or two bottles. Could you open up the storage for me so I can fill it up?”  
“Missing?” Wataru raised her eyebrows at her. “Didn’t you fill it up earlier?”  
Beni scratched her head.  
“Sorry. Maybe I miscounted. I was really tired earlier.”  
Wataru looked at her silently before she put a smile on her face. That moment, Beni knew she was in trouble.  
“Well let me take a look at it first. Maybe it will still do, yes?”  
She decided to ignore Miyacchi, who was just about to head back to the stage, and instead followed her boss to the counter. Silently she begged for Shiiran to hurry up and not to be so stupid and leave the changing rooms together with Mikkii or Wataru would definitely know what was up. Just because it had worked once didn’t mean she would get away another time. Beni kept her distance from her boss, crossed her fingers while she was slipping behind the counter and let her eyes run over the bottles. She begged inside that the other would just believe her because that would mean that Wataru would accompany her backstage in order to open up the storage where they kept the more expensive bottles.   
“Where’s the Whisky?”  
“As I said…” Beni hardly could control her voice shaking. “…I may have miscounted. I used up the last bottle yesterday.”  
Once again Wataru threw her a smile and Beni felt her knees getting weak. Oh god she was in so much trouble.  
“What a shame. I recall seeing the bottle half full this morning. Tell me the truth, Sayumi.”  
Beni gulped softly, felt her hands shaking and crossed her arms in order to stop them from doing so. She looked down, however shortly after she did she noticed the tips of Wataru’s expensive leather boots right in front of hers.  
“I promise I won’t get mad, Sayumi. Just tell me.”  
Like hell she wouldn’t. Beni mentally hit herself for choosing one of those expensive bottles and her mouth became so dry that gulping was literally made impossible. Yet a soft clicking made her boss’ eyes fly up and right into the one direction she didn’t want her to look at. Beni almost felt like jumping right into her boss’ face, yet her shoulders fell down when Mikkii stepped out of the changing rooms all by herself. No sign of Shiiran anywhere. So she had been smarter than that. Though she wouldn’t have wondered if it had been Mikkii’s idea and not Shiiran’s. The drummer tended to do terrible decisions. Instantly Wataru put her aside, left her with no further notification and headed towards the young waitress. Beni quickly followed on her heel, the list in her hand as if she wanted to wait for her boss to lock open the storage for her.  
“And where have you been?”, Wataru asked when Mikkii looked up at her with her big puppy-eyes. The girl was quite pale around her nose.  
“I-I…” Mikkii still had her hand on the doorknob. “I was feeling a little dizzy and I sat down. I’m sorry.”  
“… Are you alright?”  
“I feel better now. Thank you.”  
“Maybe you should sit down some more.”  
“No, I’m fine, really.”  
Wataru put on her smile again. She always smiled when she wasn’t accepting No for an answer.  
“I insist. I can’t have you fall unconscious on me on the job, can I?” She put her hand on Mikkii’s shoulder and turned her around. “Come on. I’ll keep you company.”  
Oh dear. That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all. Beni screamed inside while she could only watch Wataru push Mikkii back into the dressing room.  
  
“Wataru… I’m really fine.”  
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.  
“I’m just concerned, dear. Just a few minutes to ease my mind about it, yes?”  
The steps stopped abruptly.   
“Please. I don’t want any trouble because you watch out for my health.”  
“Why would you be in trouble?”  
“Well… the others are already looking at me funny and I don’t feel comfortable about it.”  
Shiiran pressed harder against the wall, felt herself shaking while she slid deeper into the very small gap between the lockers and the wall. Maybe the only space where Wataru wouldn’t see her immediately after getting in. She felt her heart pounding and her palms sweating, her knees getting weak and her vision getting slightly blurry. If Wataru would find her, she wouldn’t get away with just a blue mark on her face and she knew that perfectly well. Luckily she reacted quickly enough and jumped behind the locker the second she had heard the door getting opened. Slowly, very slowly she reached inside her pocket and took out a small mirror. She had the habit of carrying it around with her just so she could check her make-up between the songs and on her way to rehearsals. Carefully she stuck it out just enough to peek around the corner of the locker. Mikkii held Wataru be her wrist and stopped her by turning the older woman towards her.   
“Looking funny? Does it bother you so much, dear?”  
“No. That’s not it. I just don’t feel comfortable with you taking care of me when everyone is around.”  
Shiiran watched while Wataru pulled the smaller woman closer, put her arms around the slim waist and once again she felt a heavy chunk clogging up her throat. She didn’t want to watch this, yet she couldn’t take her eyes off of it. It was like an accident.  
“So? When do you want me to take care of you then?”  
Mikkii looked at the other for a moment, lifted her arms and put them around their boss’ neck, getting a little closer to her.  
“No one is watching now”, she mumbled with her head slightly down and looking at Wataru with big eyes. The older one was grinning widely.  
“Do you start flirting now, babe?”  
“That depends…”   
Wataru licked her lips just as if she had to think about it before she leaned closer so that her lips almost touched the younger’s. Shiiran felt a hiccup coming up and a salty taste in her throat. Could she really be jealous about it? She remembered when Wataru treated her this way and even when Miyacchi still came up to her just for cuddling. She missed it and for a second she wasn’t quite sure who she was jealous of.   
“I like it”, Wataru finally purred. “Keep it up.”  
Shiiran could see that the smile Mikkii put on was forced, however before Wataru was able to ask, the younger one pulled her even closer into a kiss, buried one hand in the hair on the back of their boss’ head to hold her there. For a second Shiiran could swear she tasted the sweet hint of cocktails on her lips and felt the need of sucking on Mikkii’s bottom lip, even more when she heard the little moan she let out when Wataru pulled her shirt from her trousers. When she was just about to pull back the mirror (she really didn’t want to watch this scene even more), her eyes met Mikkii’s who was looking at her while her lips were still locked with Wataru’s. The hand that was not in the king’s hair made a small, faint gesture over to her direction, hinting her to get past them and out of the room. Shiiran once more felt like fainting. Could she risk it? She still had heels on and if she made a wrong step, Wataru sure would notice her. She held her breath when Wataru trapped the younger woman between her and the locker and heard the occasional moan Mikkii let out. It made her sick that she was just doing it so that the king would be pleased, bit her bottom lip when she slowly slipped out and tiptoed past the making out women. When she passed them, Mikkii made a move so that her head would still be between Shiiran and Wataru, so even if the king happened to open her eyes for a second, which she surely did when she leaned down to suck on Mikkii’s neck, she wouldn’t notice the woman that was fleeing the scene.  
  
It was just a few hours later when Mikkii was sitting inside Wataru’s car, still tired from her work and so much more. Seducing her boss just so that Shiiran could get out unnoticed had been more exhausting than she first believed it was. She felt very much like falling asleep on the spot, however Shiiran and what she told her was still on her mind. Wataru strictly said that taking her to shopping was purely on a business-basis and had nothing to do with what was going on between the two of them. Yet she wasn’t so sure about that anymore. She peeked over to the other side, looked at Wataru who was fixed on the road. Still she couldn’t believe that this woman was so purely evil that she made people sign a contract to own their lives but on the other hand that wasn’t quite so absurd. Thinking about it, her boss did manipulate her one point or another but it never had bothered her for some reason. Maybe it was just the beginning? Would she start controlling more of her until she broke? If yes, what could she do? Or maybe Shiiran had lied to her and made up that contract?  
“Mikkii?” She looked up once more. “Don’t fall asleep. You can get some later when we’re done.”  
“Sorry. I had a lot to do tonight.”  
“I know, babe. We get this over with quickly, I’ll drive you home and you can get a few hours of sleep. Just make sure to show up in time for rehearsals. We don’t have all day, you know? The business has to keep running.”  
Mikkii stayed quiet for a few seconds, inhaled deeply and crossed her fingers that she wouldn’t get in trouble.  
“Wataru? Can’t… Can’t I go to the auditions? I worked so hard for them.”  
Luckily for her, they already parked or else she felt as if Wataru would be smashing the breaks. The older woman looked at her in silence for a few seconds before she put on a smile.  
“We already talked about this, remember? We can’t afford to lose any time. Everything will work out in your favor, you’ll see.” She turned off the car and opened the door. “Oh talking about it… We’ll be joined by Ayaki’s wife. Ayaki said that she would be around anyway and I thought you might as well meet her. Be sure to behave since.”  
“Her wife?”  
Mikkii didn’t get an answer. She was still confused about this whole “Ayaki having a wife” thing since she had no idea how the hell two women could get married around these parts. Or maybe it was just a term? She couldn’t tell. Instead she got out of the car as well and hurried after her godfather. They headed straight for a small coffee-shop just around the corner and Wataru seemed to know exactly where she wanted to go. Inside, they went for a table in the corner, closest to the window where a woman sat with a small french bulldog to her feet, an empty cup of tea in front of her and an empty plate. A few papers were piled up just beside it. When she noticed them coming closer, she smiled and got up from her seat, stepped towards Wataru and politely shook her hand.   
“Nice to see you again, Wataru. It’s been some time.”  
“Also happy to see you, Asako. We’ve both been busy lately.” She pointed over to Mikkii. “I already introduced her to Saeko but that’s my new protégée…”  
“Tenju Mitsuki. I know. I read the audition papers.” The woman nodded over to her. “Nice to meet you. Sena Jun, but people call me Asako.”  
Mikkii returned the greet and bowed down deeply just in case. Sena quickly put the papers into a bag she hang around her shoulders. She decided that it was most likely best for her when she pretended as if she wasn’t listening. Instead she kneeled down to the dog who curiously came up to her, wagging it’s very small tail when Mikkii started petting it.  
“So that’s the replacement for Miyacchi, I suppose? She’s cute. Is she good enough?”  
“We’ll see when she gets on stage for the first time. I figured we should do some shopping so that she would look good enough.”  
“Is that so?” Sena took the leash and the dog started excitedly jumping around her feet, so Mikkii got up again as well. When Sena pointed on her shirt, Mikkii looked down on herself. “Isn’t this good enough? Because I could swear that Saeko wore a pair of very, very similar shirt and jeans a few days ago.”  
In the corner of her eyes she saw Wataru smiling and heard a silent laugh.  
“Just because I gave her that doesn’t mean it’s fitting for the stage. You should know that more than anybody.”  
Sena stayed quiet and walked past them, the dog to her heel and left the shop without another word. Mikkii did her best to keep up, almost ran into Sena when she stopped all of the sudden and handed her the leash and the bag.  
“Take care of Buuh-chan, will you? Be a dear while the adults talk.”  
  
Renta yawned when she stepped out of the bakery, took a bite of her sandwich and buried her hand inside her pocket. She still wondered how the fuck Shiiran managed to get out of the dressing room without another black eye, however then she remembered Wataru with a more than satisfied grin and quite an impressive mark on Mikkii’s neck. Again. Maybe Mikkii had something to do with it? Or maybe Shiiran was smarter than she first appeared however knowing her it was very much likely the first option. That kid was smart.   
Renta sighed and turned on her heel. She knew these parts better than anyone else, so she didn’t even have to watch where she was going and instead got lost in thoughts. Ever since she was small, Wataru always had a thing for these particular kinds of girls. Of course they differed in their behavior and personality depending on what the king wanted, but they always had the same basics. Beautiful, talented, naïve, yet smart. She wondered how long Mikkii would last. For some reason she happened to like her new neighbor and she kind of hoped that Wataru would finally settle with a woman (or a man or whatever. She didn’t really care at that point) so she could stop just watching people come and go. The king had her soft sides but they were usually covered up by her very dark intentions, her desperation over Ayaki.  
The blonde stopped beside a corner that led into a dark alleyway. She remembered this one in particular, remembered the blood that was everywhere even in the dark of the night, herself crying in the corner between a wall and a trashcan. She also remembered the dead body on the floor and the footsteps running away as well as the metal pipe falling on the hard ground rang in her ear.  
“ _I suppose that will teach them not to touch a girl again.”_  
Renta shook her head.  
“I’m not going back there”, she mumbled to herself, hurried down the street and into the next park. She felt way safer between the green of the trees and grass than the cold, grey walls. It was enough that she occasionally had nightmares about this night that changed her life, so she didn’t want to think about it too much.  
“Buuh-chan! No!”  
The guitarist was stripped of her thoughts when she suddenly had a small, white dog sitting on her foot, its paws on her knee and it was literally drooling over her trousers. She knew only one dog who did this.  
“Blanche?”, she whispered, looked up and saw Mikkii hurrying right after the snowball, stopping by her side and panting heavenly.  
“Thank you… he suddenly just ran off.” The younger took the leash and kneeled down to the dog. “Bad boy, you hear? It’s not nice to just run off like that.”  
Renta blinked.  
“What are you doing here with Blanche?”  
The redhead stood up, wrapped the leash around her wrist and cleaned the dust off her trousers.  
“Sena told me to go for a walk with him while she and Wataru go shopping and talk business.” She sighed. “Way to leave me with the dirtywork.”  
“And you just said yes to it?”  
“… Let’s be honest: what choice do I have? I wish you would have never told me.”  
Renta didn’t answer to that. Most of all because she had no idea how. Yet it was quite strange that Sena left her in charge of that animal. She kept it like a treasure and hardly let him leave his side. Then again the alternative was Wataru and the king hated that dog almost as much as she hated Sena.   
“And what are you doing? Aside from giving Buuh-chan a walk, that is”, she sighed and pet the dog’s head a little more.  
“Waiting for Wataru to pick me up. As tempting as it is to just kidnap Blanche, I think I shouldn’t. Want to come with me? It would be nice having someone to talk to.”  
Renta took a bite out of her little cake, shrugged and grinned widely. She never even thought of kidnapping Blanche but she would at least have Ayaki on her tail if she happened to do so.  
“Sure. Why not?” The two of them started walking into one direction. “Say… are you still angry about that audition?”  
“You mean if I’m mad about not being able to do what I originally came for? Yes. Yes I am. And I’m sad about it.”  
“What kind of role did you want to audition for?”  
“It’s a western musical. It’s called ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’.”  
“And what role?”  
“I wanted to try go for Chauvelin.”  
Renta looked at the other in surprise.  
“That sounds like a guy’s role.”  
However she met Mikkii’s questioning eyes. The redhead tilted her head.  
“And? What’s the problem?”  
“Shouldn’t you go for… you know… a girl?”  
“Do I look like a high-pitched, pink girly-girl to you?”  
“No, but…”  
“Back home, I always got fed up with male roles. I have a deep voice and I get mistaken for a boy easily. Most people don’t even know the difference if I don’t want them to.”  
Renta took her time to look at the other while they were walking down the park, yet laughed silently after a while. Actually she was right. After the haircut, Mikkii looked even more like a punkboy than before and the clothes Wataru got her underlined it even further.   
“Fine. You’re right. But I only heard you sing while you were drunk during Karaoke and I can’t really tell if you sound like a guy while singing.” She shrugged again. “Maybe I will someday.”  
The blonde leaned down, took the leash off of Blanche when they reached a wide place where they could keep an eye on him. The little snowball immediately ran towards the middle as if he expected something. Renta held her hand over to Mikkii.  
“Sena surely gave you a ball or something, right? She never leaves home without one. Try the first pocket on the left.”  
And as she expected, the redhead pulled out a tennis-ball out of the bag she had around her shoulder, handed it over to Renta. The blonde threw it so that Blanche could fetch it and bring it back.   
“How did you know that?”, Mikkii asked in surprise and followed Renta, who made her way further to the patch of grass in order to sit down.   
“I’ve been around for a while. I know these things.”  
The younger one sat down beside her.  
“How long?”  
“A few years.”  
“So you were one of Wataru’s pets, too?”  
Renta laughed again.  
“No. No I haven’t. I don’t even have a contract with her. But don’t tell Shiiran. She thinks I have.”  
“Then why do you stay?”  
Renta sent just a small glance over to the other woman, took the ball that Blanche came running back with and threw it once again. She couldn’t even smile at that.  
“I have a job, I get paid, I have free time and all my friends are there. Why should I leave?”  
“You can find friends everywhere and you’re a really good guitarist. You…”  
“I have my reasons”, Renta interrupted. “Besides: why do you care? You don’t even really know me.”  
“You don’t really talk much about yourself.”  
She sighed.  
“Mikkii… listen… I like you. Just not that much.” She looked at the other. “Don’t get me wrong but there are things I’m not telling Shiiran either. It’s already a lot that I told you I don’t have a contract. For me, the club, the band, the people working there, everything that is there… I love it way too much to just leave it behind, no matter how many fucked up things are going on.”


	8. Insomniac

The first glimpses of sunlight came through the window when Mikkii whipped off the remains of her makeup, washed her face just to get rid of the sweat on her forehead even though she knew it wouldn’t stay long that way. Not when she was at Wataru’s house. She was by no means in any mood for any of this however she quickly learned that saying no was not an option, at least not anymore. Her godfather didn’t even think of giving her any break. She got up after a few hours of sleep on midday, hardly had any time for breakfast, hurried over to rehearsals with the band, doing her job as waitress the whole night AND somehow still had to come over to Wataru for the meetings she didn’t even let Mikkii take part of. Usually either Wataru or the opposite part of the meeting, mostly including Ayaki, ended up sending her around, bringing this and that, having her mostly as servant and before she was finally allowed to get the sleep she desperately needed, her boss came up with even more ideas just to keep her awake. She was awake for over 24 hours before she was granted some sleep.  
It was not like rehearsals went all that bad at least. The band was really nice, though she mostly rehearsed with Chie in order to learn the songs. Her first proper rehearsal with the whole band would be the next day and her next proper day off from everything the day after.   
Mikkii slipped out of her shirt and her jeans, grabbed the piece of fabric that Wataru handed her over earlier and sighed when she unfolded it just to reveal a deep red, silken nightdress. None of her clothes were actually hers anymore, just ‘gifts’ from Wataru. She knew what it meant when her godfather got her a new piece just for getting to bed. She gulped, put on the nightgown. It ended just above her knee, hid just enough to be interesting with silk and lace. Any other moment she might have liked it even, but like this, she just wanted to go to bed, so she didn’t really care for what she had on. She just had to get this over with. Slowly she made her way out the bathroom and towards the bedroom where Wataru was already lying on the bed in just her shorts and a shirt, a small book in her lap. Just when Mikkii entered the room, the other looked up and put a smile on her lips.  
“Oh, what a surprise. It fits better than I thought it would.”  
Just by the mere thought of burying her face in the pillow, her eyes almost fell shut. The way over to the bed seemed so endless all of the sudden. She climbed on top of the cover, let herself fall into the pillow with her back turned to her boss. There were merely a few moments of silence before Mikkii heard Wataru putting her book aside, shift on her spot and then felt the other’s hand on her side.   
“Wataru?”, the younger mumbled when Wataru started stroking over her hip and pressed small kisses on her shoulder. “Could we just sleep?”  
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like my present?”  
“I’m just so deadly tired.”  
“You can sleep later.”  
“Please…”  
The older pulled on her shoulder, pressed her back into the bed and the tip of her nose was touching her godfather’s while Wataru whispered against her lips. Mikkii felt herself shaking.  
“We talked about this already, didn’t we, dearest? Or do you want to tell me sex with me is bad?”  
“I… I didn’t…”  
“You did. I thought I made myself quite clear of how this works.” The other stroke her hair and cheek, smiled even wider. “I give you everything, Mitsuki. Everything you could dream of. And all you do is listen to every word I say, repay me for what I give to you and if I say I want to fuck you until you scream, then you take of your clothes and let me. I’m not the most tender lover but I don’t need to be. “  
Mikkii gulped and felt her voice shaking, already knew she would regret the next words however was too tired to think about it.  
“Making me a replacement for Ayaki doesn’t bring her back…”  
Wataru’s smile melted off and the other brought her face even closer.  
“Be careful what you say, Mikkii. You have no idea what you’re talking about. I do what I want.” After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she smiled softly. “Kiss me.”  
Once again Mikkii felt a thick knot in her throat, tried gulping it down yet her heavy heart stopped her from doing so. She was scared. Scared of what Wataru could do to her, that her soft, sensual smile would reveal white fangs that would rip her apart. Her clouded mind was also in no position to argue. Slowly, shaking she reached up, touched her godfather’s lips with her own just to get pressed into the pillow once again. Wataru didn’t lose any time invading her body in any way possible and Mikkii moaned under her touch. It was all she could do to ease her owner’s temper, even though she didn’t even try to be tender this time, making her moans more painful than enjoying.  
“You’re mine, Mikkii”, the hot whisper murmured in her head while she tried desperately to hold onto the other. “Come for me. Show me how much you need me.”  
  
Shiiran sighed and took another nip out of her bottle while she listened to Renta softly pulling the strings on her guitar, playing a soft melody and stared in front of her. She twirled the liquid inside, peeked into the other room where Miyacchi was still deep asleep on the bed. Every once in a while Miya had this habit of coming over to Renta with her, talked and at one point just went inside the bedroom and claimed the bed for her own. At times like this, it almost felt like a normal friendship and Shiiran took these moments to get slightly tipsy and listen to Renta playing her guitar. However this time, she was worried more than anything. Since Renta had her apartment so close to Mikkii’s, Shiiran noticed that the light inside the younger one’s apartment was still out, so she couldn’t be home yet. She had only seen her briefly when Chie gave her some tips on what to do after they had finished rehearsing, however even from her point of view she had seen that Mikkii had been way too tired to listen to anything the older had said. If she wasn’t at home, then she surely was with Wataru.  
The drummer remembered the time when she had been in this position and it all went downhill from there. If it hadn’t been for Miyacchi when Shiiran had her slip with her contract, then… she didn’t even want to think about it.  
“You should really ban her out of your mind”, Renta said silently while still pulling the strings and playing her lullaby. Shiiran looked up and over to the blonde.  
“What?”  
“You’re thinking about Mikkii again, don’t you?”  
“I’m not constantly thinking about her.”  
“Except you do.”  
Shiiran growled, stared down on her bottle once again.  
“I’m simply worried. She’s a way too nice girl to slip into something like this.”  
“She’s stronger than you expect her to be.”  
Shiiran raised her eyebrows and her eyes met Renta’s. They both decided to speak silently and Renta continued playing just to make sure Miyacchi wasn’t hearing any of this.  
“Since when do you know her so well?”  
The blonde looked back on her fingers, changed up her tune a little. Sometimes Shiiran found herself amazed of how far her fingers could stretch.  
“… I talked to her the other day. Before her rehearsal started. She was quite eager following her dream. I don’t think Wataru can break her that quick.”  
For a few moments she watched Renta in silence. She wasn’t so sure about that. Sure, Mikkii seemed quite strong and seducing Wataru just so that Shiiran could get out unnoticed had been brave, however she could see the other getting more and more worn out over time, Wataru being more and more aggressive in how she was treating the younger. Their boss didn’t even hide anymore that she thought of Mikkii as nothing more but a toy for her boredom.   
Shiiran got up from her spot and sighed, put down her bottle.  
“I hope you’re right. I’ll get some sleep.” Or at least she would try to. “Goodnight.”  
The blonde murmured something back, then concentrated on her guitar again before finally putting it down and grabbing her own bottle. Shiiran however headed for the bedroom, closed the door behind her, slipped out of her trousers and lay down beside Miyacchi. She knew Renta wouldn’t go to sleep for a few hours even though the sun was almost up and she would fall asleep on the couch anyway. Sighing softly she stared at the ceiling, thinking about all of this once again. She wondered what had happened with the last girl Wataru had claimed. Once they made the godfather angry, there was usually no going back. One time, a few months ago (or was it years?) she remembered seeing one of her former pets on the streets, coming up to men for quite obvious reasons. Shiiran was afraid she would fall this far one day and even more afraid that Mikkii would fall even farther.   
A touch on her hand made her look over to Miyacchi, who tiredly turned around and blinked at her softly. Then she got closer and put her head on her shoulder.  
“Why didn’t you come to bed earlier?”, the younger murmured and Shiiran felt her breath against her neck. When Miya was tired like this, it was the only time that the drummer could talk to her like a decent human being.  
“I wasn’t tired.”  
“You keep thinking too hard.”  
“I’m not.”  
“I know you have your mind on Mikkii.” Shiiran didn’t answer to that so Miyacchi continued talking. “She won’t get the job, you know. The place in the band.”  
Shiiran frowned on her spot, tried her best not to tense up.  
“How do you know that?”, she asked with a slightly shaking voice.  
“Because Wataru doesn’t like it when people look at her pet and will order her to mess it up. Or at least make her tired enough to make mistakes.” Miyacchi sighed softly and snuggled up closer. “Ayaki will see it when she goes on stage and she will be stuck as waitress.”  
She bit her tongue harder. Being stuck in that job and not being able to sing… She knew Mikkii well enough that it would be her nightmare. Shiiran closed her eyes, carefully grabbed Miyacchi’s hand that was touching hers and turned her head enough to bury her nose in the other’s hair.   
“You really hate her, don’t you?”, the drummer mumbled.  
“No. I like her actually. But she doesn’t make my sister care enough. That’s why I restrain from being emotionally attached to her and that’s what you should do, too.”  
  
Shortly after the door to the bedroom was closed, Renta heard silent whispers from through the door. It was not like she cared or anything. Every once in a while, she even heard ‘I love you’ from either of the two, yet the last time had been years before. She didn’t care in particular anyway.   
The guitarist took another sip out her bottle, put it down and got up. Why the hell was she so restless? Usually playing calmed her down, yet this time… Maybe it was because of this whole thing with Shiiran and Mikkii. Even Miyacchi saw how much the drummer cared, how it hurt her that there was nothing she could do to help. It slowly broke Shiiran’s newfound feelings the more Mikkii continued to fall. More importantly: she became distant to Miyacchi. Renta was more than convinced that it wasn’t pure emulation from Miyacchi that she took Shiiran in, but actual, true feelings she just wasn’t able to show, both sisters had problems when it came to that, and that Shiiran just lost sight of this feeling. Mikkii actually reminded her a lot of Miyacchi before she became famous, before Shiiran’s contract, before Ayaki married Sena and before Wataru became so frustrated.  
The blonde sighed, took her keys and left the apartment. She needed some fresh air, even though it was time for her to go get sleep as well but she couldn’t. There was too much on her mind and she didn’t feel like sleeping. Maybe a trip with her motorbike would ease her thoughts.   
However it shouldn’t be that way. She headed downstairs, past the postboxes and opened the door to outside when she saw a certain redhead on the very bottom stair. Well to be honest, her hair wasn’t as red anymore, more pinkish blonde. For a second Renta thought about just ignoring and passing her but the way Mikkii leaned against the wall beside her made her worry.   
“Why won’t you go upstairs? Isn’t it cold on the stairs?”, the blonde asked jokily, jumped the second to last stair and leaned down to grin into the younger woman’s face. Mikkii however stared in front of her, her legs spread out in front of her as if she simply fell on the stairs and her fingertips almost touching the floor.  
“Mitsuki?” Renta’s smile faded and she kneeled in front of the other. She spotted Wataru’s very fresh marking on the other’s neck, the deep blue-violet skin just below her collar. “Hey. Are you asleep?”  
“I’m so tired”, the redhead suddenly whimpered, a few tears running over her face and her eyes falling shut.   
“Then go to bed.”  
“I can’t…”  
“Why?”  
She didn’t get a proper answer. Instead Mikkii started sobbing all of the sudden, slapped her hands in front of her face and her upper body fell down a little more. Renta flinched forward to stop her from falling down, placed herself beside the other woman and held her up and the other ended up sobbing against her shoulder.  
“Hey…”, Renta said, gulping slightly. She wasn’t good with this. “No need to cry.”  
“I’m so fucking worthless. I’m stuck in a job I don’t want, my boss stops me from moving on, I get abused on a daily basis and now I can’t even go up the stairs anymore and go to bed.” She sobbed harder. “I can’t do this anymore.”  
The blonde felt her heart getting slightly heavier. The way Mikkii simply hang in her arm, crying and shaking on her shoulder, told her more than she needed to hear. She knew these situations way too well, however usually she watched them from afar, unaffected by it and solved by simply turning her back. Mikkii wasn’t holding her but she knew she couldn’t turn her back. She sighed and forced on a smile.  
“Now don’t start talking like this. You just need some sleep. I’ll carry you upstairs, okay? Just give me your keys.”  
The redhead answered with another sob, nodded against her shoulder without looking at her and Renta helped her sit up so that she could kneel with her back turned to her and pulled on her arms to get her on her back after she was handed the keys from the pocket of her jacket.  
“Hang on to me, yes?”, the blonde asked in order to check if Mikkii was still awake. The arms around her shoulders became almost unnoticeably tighter, but enough that she was sure Mikkii would stay where she put her. Actually the blonde felt like sighing again, yet restrained from doing so to not down Mikkii even more. Instead she slowly climbed the stairs, threw a gaze down the hallway when she was on the right floor. It was still quiet, so Shiiran and Miyacchi were most likely still asleep. She had no idea how she managed to open the door but when she entered, the whole apartment basically screamed Wataru right in her face. It was simple, stylish and sharp, the colors more pastel and nothing like the first time she came in here. She carefully set Mikkii down on the couch and reached for pack of tissues, putting them into the other woman’s hands. As she was touching her, she felt how violently the other shook and couldn’t help but to feel sorry.  
“Mitsuki… Calm down”, she said in a soft voice, sitting on the floor in front of her and tried to get a glimpse of her eyes. They were red and swollen of tears, hazy due the lack of sleep and the worry glittering in them.   
“She’ll kill me”, the other whispered. “I can’t keep this up anymore.”  
“Wataru is just testing out your limits. Once you’re past this, it will be better.”  
“I can’t. I don’t have the strength to anymore.”  
Renta stared at the redhead for a while in silence. She had expected this day to come, just not so early. Though she couldn’t leave her like that after she put her hand on the stove for her in front of Shiiran, plus Shiiran would definitely do something stupid just to help the girl. Slowly she placed her hand on the other’s lap, lifted her chin up so that she could look at her more easily.  
“Mikkii, listen… Wataru’s not a bad person. She’s simply… let’s call it difficult after Ayaki left her for Sena.”  
“But it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”  
“I know, I know”, Renta mumbled. “She just tries to project her frustration on another human being. I know she strips you of everything and that it’s exhausting but if you keep up just a while longer, she’s… nice. She’ll keep her promise.”  
Except she wouldn’t and Renta knew this way too well. Wataru stripped her pets of everything they believed in, everything they owned until she had total control over their mind and body and all of this just to make them dependent of her. If her boss got her way, her pet wouldn’t even dare to breathe without permission.   
“You’re a liar.” The husky voice stripped her of her thoughts and she met Mikkii’s eyes once more. “She never kept any promises, did she?”  
Renta bit her bottom lip.  
“… Actually she did. Once.” The blonde put both hands in the other’s lap and put her head on it. “But that was years ago. I doubt anyone can even remember her beside me and Miyacchi. I hardly see her anymore.”  
Soft fingers became entangled with her hair and made the blonde shut her eyes. The petting was slow, lazy and tired, but it still felt rather nice.  
“Who was she?”  
“A girl from Wataru’s school. She was Wataru’s first… I guess you could call it lover after Ayaki. They had a relationship that was based on promises to help each other. They introduced each other into higher class business and it’s the reason they both became so successful. Wataru always called her her favorite pet. I don’t know who ended it but back then Wataru came up with these contracts and she show she pulls off with people like you.”  
“Do you remember her name?”  
Renta looked up and the fingers stopped on the back of her head. Slowly she shook.  
“I can’t tell you that.”  
Mikkii looked at her and seemed as if she would fall asleep on the spot, yet Renta could see her mind racing, how the thoughts and images kept her awake and made her insomniac.  
“You’ve been with her for a while…”, she finally answered and the blonde nodded.  
“Because of that I can tell you that she’s not… bad.”  
Tears started to fill Mikkii’s eyes once more and she gulped.  
“I’m still so scared of her.”  
“Would you feel any better if I’d stay with you while you get some sleep?”  
The younger woman slightly hiccupped before she managed to nod almost unnoticeably. At least that made Renta smile a little bit.  
“Fine”, the blonde whispered softly. “Let’s get you out of your clothes and then into bed.” She frowned when she realized her words. “Wow… that sounded like a really bad pickup line.”  
She couldn’t really believe that a smile flashed on the corner of the other’s mouth.  
“It did, actually.”  
Renta grinned wider, got back to her joking-habits.  
“I swear I didn’t mean it.”  
“I know you didn’t. That’s just who you are.” The redhead looked up when Renta stood up. “Ren? Thank you…”  
“No problem.” She offered her hands to the other. “Care to get up?”  
  
Mikkii was more than glad that she had Renta around, helping her to her bedroom and getting her out of the very uncomfortable pants and shirt. They were too dark for her taste, too… black and elegant. There was no room for color. The more comfortable she was when she put on her fluffy green shirt and her even fluffier, bright yellow pants, was able to sneak under her red and blue cover. She offered Renta a shirt as well because she noticed how the bags hang under the blonde’s eyes. Some sleep would do her well as well. Of course she could argue that Renta would take the chance to try something inappropriate, yet somehow… Mikkii knew she wouldn’t. The way the blonde crawled under her blanket, the way she could just snuggle up to her and how she was wrapped in her blanket, held closely, all pain fell down from her.  
Yet she couldn’t sleep immediately. Still she had the thought in her head about what Renta said earlier. Maybe… maybe if she made Wataru believe that she, as her godfather, was her main reason in life, maybe then she could recover? Just enough to think of her next step? There was still the problem with Shiiran, that she wanted to talk to her again, to finally feel like a friend again and not like a stranger and Mikkii didn’t even want to think about what Wataru would do to Renta if she found out she was sleeping in the blonde’s arms.   
Then again… would she do anything to her? She didn’t really get the relationship between them. Renta always talked of years, as if she was Wataru’s sister and not Miyacchi. But who could she ask for it and even if she did, wouldn’t Renta be mad at her if she asked?   
When she opened her eyes for the last time before sleep finally got her, Renta’s eyes were already closed and her breath became slow and steady. Carefully she reached up, touched the other’s cheek before she cuddled up closer, buried her nose on Renta’s neck.   
“I trust you…”, she whispered and closed her eyes.  
  
Wataru yawned slightly when she opened the door to the club. Luckily she had everything done beforehand, so she got some extra hours of sleep already. Hopefully Mikkii remembered getting her coffee when she showed up.   
Slowly she walked in, turned up the lights in the black hall and took a look around. This club came so far from the first time she had entered this old factory. The first time it had been dusty, grey and lifeless but now… The change was amazing. She slipped out of her jacket, walked behind the bar. The liquids were still locked away behind bulletproof glass, the desks slightly dusty, the stage still turned off and awaiting the new show. She got one of the bottles, rolled it in her fingers. It was the oldest and most expensive bottles she owned, a gift.  
The smell of coffee made her look up. She didn’t expect Mikkii to come to her that early after how tired she was, however when she found the person’s face, the smile on her face faded away.  
“What are you doing here?”  
“Good morning to you, too.”  
“Answer.”  
The heels echoed uncomfortably in the hall while the other walked over to the bar, moved her body perfectly in the designer suit and placed her body on one of the chairs. Then she put a cup right in front of Wataru.  
“I got you some coffee. For old time’s sake.”  
“You’re not welcome here.”  
“Wataru…” The other sighed. “Youko. Come on. I know you don’t mean it.”   
Wataru stared down on the coffee, then noticed the little box beside the cup. She knew it well, noticed the way the box already lost its color from being pulled out this many times.  
“You won’t give up, will you?”, Wataru asked and met the other’s eyes once more, saw the sensual smile and the warm eyes.  
“Not until you agree to marry me, my love.”


	9. Pretty Please?

Renta didn’t even need to open her eyes to notice the soft breath on her skin and the fingers entangled in her own, the warmth of the body beside hers. It took her a few seconds to remember and for a seconds she was certain that she drank too much again. However the smell that ran through her nose when she buried the tip of it in soft, red hair was enough to make her remember that she didn’t smash herself the night before and instead she held the body closer to hers. The blonde snuggled closer to the other’s back in order to make sure the warmth wouldn’t be gone before she slowly opened her eyes. She could hardly believe that the other was still there, slightly curled up and holding on her hand, her breath going slow and steady. Surely she was still asleep and it was good that way. Renta still felt uncomfortable thinking about it, about the way Mikkii was crying her eyes out even though it seemed better now.  
Slowly she freed her fingers from the other’s, carefully pulled a pillow under the other’s head before she pulled out her arm and put the blanket over her shoulder. She had done it so many times already that she could do it in her sleep, yet she was sure that Mikkii wouldn’t even notice if she fell out the bed. It was about time she got some sleep. Doing so made her lean over the other and she took a second to examine her more closely. For some reason she understood what Wataru liked about her. She was pretty, smart in her very own way and lovely if given the chance to and Renta was angry that Wataru made a sport out of breaking such people.   
She looked up and growled softly. It shouldn’t concern her, right? It wasn’t her problem and even if Mikkii ended up on the street…  
“Why am I doing this?”, she whispered softly to herself and finally went out of the bed. She couldn’t even finish the thought without feeling uncomfortable. The blonde walked over to a small chair where she had kept her clothes the night before, changed while paying attention to the woman in bed. Just as she buckled her belt, she heard a silent song, a phone ringing and out of pure reflex she jumped over to the source which just so happened to be Mikkii’s pants. She pulled out the phone with the keychain and quickly stopped the ringing by cutting the call. There was no need to look on the display to check who it was. Instead she silenced the phone and put it away in her own pocket when she heard Mikkii move under the sheets, silently moaning and Renta was over by her side with two steps, sat down on the edge. Carefully she pulled aside some red hair.  
“Hush”, she said softly. “It’s nothing.”  
“Was that Wataru?”   
She could hardly understand the other.  
“No. It was no one. Continue sleeping, okay? I’ll pick you up later for rehearsals.”  
Mikkii turned again, curled up even more so that her head almost fell off the pillow and Renta smiled slightly when she noticed the other falling asleep almost instantaneous again. She surely wouldn’t even remember waking up, so Renta got up and slipped out the bedroom. The phone she still had in her hand vibrated again and Wataru’s name flashed up on the display. She decided to just let it ring and used the moment to pull the cord from the house telephone. If Mikkii wouldn’t pick up her mobile, then Wataru surely would try call her home and wake her up.   
Renta was just about to run out the door, her mind set on talking to Wataru when she stopped for a split second. Was she even allowed to interfere with this? She could just look away like all the other times and pretend that it was nothing, yet she stood there inside the door with another person’s cellphone in her hand and on her way to get into way more trouble that she wanted. While sighing, she closed the door behind her, looked down the hallway where she could see the door to her own apartment.  
“I hope you appreciate what I do for the two of you”, she mumbled and headed for the stairs.  
  
“How many times do I have to tell you: I won’t marry you.”  
“I will ask you until you say yes. Even if I have to ask you until I’m old.”  
“Then good luck aging.”  
Once more Wataru pressed the little phone-icon and tried to get into connection with her pet. She didn’t particularly plan having her over so early, but everything in order to make the woman sitting on the chair go away. Yet Mikkii didn’t pick up and she couldn’t get though her phone at home and it made her rather angry. The one thing she made perfectly clear was that Mikkii didn’t have a choice but to pick up when she called, had to make sure her phone was always close to her so that she could call if she wanted something.   
“Youko”, the other made her look up again by walking around the bar and stopping right beside her. “Why are you making things so difficult for the two of us?”  
“Why do YOU always ask the same questions?”  
“Because you wouldn’t give me a proper answer!”  
“I gave you my answer already years ago!”  
The other inhaled.  
“Saeko will not come back to you, no matter how long you wait! Why can’t you just accept that?!”  
Wataru growled angrily, pointed over to the door while looking in the other’s eyes.  
“Out”, she hissed when she got close to her face. The other sighed and looked at her sadly. Wataru felt her heart getting slightly heavier seeing her like this, yet suppressed the feeling and continued pointing at the door. Finally the other moved, getting more distance between them. However instead of leaving immediately she walked over to her suitcase and pulled out a few sheets of paper, put them in front of her beside the coffee and took the little box with her instead.  
“That’s the song you wanted. I don’t know what you want to do with it, but here it is.”  
Wataru took the paper and simply put them away before a sound by the door made her look up in hope that it would be Mikkii so that she could finally throw the other out. However when she saw blonde hair, her hopes were already let down, yet she couldn’t hold in her surprise when Renta entered the club and she threw a quick gaze on the clock. Renta was never early for anything, ever.   
  
Renta couldn’t really tell how long she stood in front of that door, but at some point she decided it just was no use anymore. She decided to do it, then she had to do it. Yet she didn’t expect to see the face she saw while entering, ignoring Wataru behind the counter all of the sudden, and Renta’s face brightened up immediately.   
“Touko!”, she called out and ran towards the other woman, hugged her tightly and held her for a second before letting go and looked into her smiling face. “I didn’t see you in so long!”  
“It’s nice to see you, too, Sayuri. How have you been.”  
Renta shrugged and grinned.  
“You know… this and that…”  
“So still quite the Ladykiller, yes?” Touko laughed. “Not that I could blame you. But it’s new to see you up so early in the morning.”  
“I have to agree. For once”, Wataru interfered and Renta’s smile faded. “What brings you here, Renta?”  
Slowly the blonde let go of Touko, looked at her boss and gulped slightly.  
“W-Well…” She scratched her head and pulled out Mikkii’s phone. “I came to talk to you about Mitsuki.”  
She could see Wataru’s eyes darkening when she spotted the keychain and her expression hardened. She inhaled once, but instead of screaming at her, she put on a smile.  
“That at least explains why she wouldn’t pick up. I hope you have a good excuse for stealing, Ren.”  
“I didn’t steal it. I just put it on silence mode so that she could have some peace…”  
“So you took it without her knowing. That’s stealing.”  
“Because you wouldn’t leave her alone!”  
“That’s none of your business.”  
“Would someone explain me what is going on?”, Touko interfered and crossed her arms. Her eyes were switching from her to Wataru and back before she fixed Renta, expecting an answer. The blonde tried not to look at her boss. She already knew what gazes she threw over to her.  
“Mitsuki is the new girl here”, she started, still staring at Touko. “Shiiran is totally nuts about her and Miyacchi is all jealous and stuff. I don’t know” She shrugged. “Anyway… she’s working a really freaking lot lately and I wondered if she could get a break.”  
“She knew what she was getting into…”, Wataru started, yet Touko interrupted her.  
“Would you let her speak for once?” The boss growled but let the other continue to talk. “But Wataru is right about one thing: if she can’t handle the job, she’s not made for it.”  
“She would if she didn’t have to do both rehearsals and being a waitress AND running around all day. She broke down yesterday in front of the house because she hardly had any sleep the last week. I’m just glad I found her before Shiiran did. She would surely have freaked out over it.”  
Renta was more than just relieved that Touko was around. If anyone could talk to Wataru aside from Saeko, it was her. And by the way the older looked at her boss, she was not happy with what she just heard.  
“I thought you learned from the last girl, Youko. Why would you sacrifice another?”  
“That’s none of your business.”  
“It’s pretty much my business because you’re driving these girls to suicide!”  
“And your point?”  
“What you do is illegal, damn it!”  
“They signed. Mitsuki signed as well. Everything happening to them is their own fault so every action they do is on their own, free will. So no, this is pretty much legal.”  
Renta stayed quiet while Touko slowly shook her head at the other woman. Her loud voice was suddenly quiet.  
“I knew you were doing weird things, but I never expected you to become so violent after what happened with Dan. Wasn’t she enough?”  
“I didn’t tell her to jump off the building.”  
“No. But she would have. For you. And she ultimately did. How many people have to die until you come to your senses?! Where the fuck did your heart go?!” Touko pointed over to Renta. “I still remember the woman who bashed a bunch of weirdo’s heads in just because they lay hand on a girl! Where did that go?”  
Wataru stayed silent for a few seconds before she pointed at the door.  
“Out, Touko.”  
“Youko…!”  
“This is my club. Everything inside here belongs to me and I don’t want you in it. Go or I’ll call the police.”  
Touko sighed and threw an apologizing gaze over at Renta, who decided just to look on the floor instead. She heard the other pick up her bag and head for the door, shyly looked after her.  
“Sayuri”, Wataru suddenly said, coming forth from the bar. “Come.”  
Renta waited until the door fell shut behind Touko before she hurried after her boss who headed for her office.   
“Wataru…”, she started. “I didn’t want…”  
“I know what you wanted and what your intentions were.” They climbed the stairs, Wataru not even turning her head towards Renta though the blonde was way slower than her due to her shorter legs. “Why are you even concerned, Sayuri? Mitsuki has nothing to do with you. You never care for anything I do.”  
“It’s more about Miyacchi than about Mikkii. I…” Wataru suddenly stopped and Renta almost ran into her. “I-I just don’t want Shiiran to break Miya’s heart.”  
“What does she have to do with anything? I told Shiiran that it’s better for her to keep her paws off of my property.”  
“No matter that, I know her better than anyone. How do you think she would react if she found Mikkii crying on the stairs?”  
“… Go ahead.”  
Renta sighed.  
“We both know Shiiran can hardly take her eyes off of her already because Mikkii is so much like Miyacchi, because she doesn’t have a problem with being taken care of. Shiiran would do anything to make it easier for Mikkii to be around you and I doubt she would pay any attention to Miyacchi.” Renta stopped for a second and spoke more intensely. “I don’t want Miya hurt, Wataru.” She took the other’s hand and made her look at her. “Please?”  
She watched Wataru’s thoughts run in her eyes before she put on another smile. It was so unlike how it was before, more soft and not so… devilish false. The older pulled her a little closer, put her hand on her cheek and ran the other through her hair.  
“Sometimes I don’t get you, Sayuri. One moment you act as if no one matters for you and the next…”  
“I’m difficult”, Renta laughed slightly.  
“Oh I know. I know well. But alright… I won’t call her. I still expect her to show up in time for rehearsals today.”  
“So she gets her day off tomorrow?”  
“For now. But be a dear and have an eye on her tomorrow then. I don’t want her wandering off since I told her not to go to any auditions. Sena wouldn’t take her anyway.”  
“I know. But how do you expect me to do that?”  
“Since when do I care? You’ll find a way.”  
Renta lowered her head, felt a soft kiss on her forehead shortly after and arms wrapped around her body. She closed her eyes and put her hands on the other’s back and held her for a second.  
“You’ll be fine, Sayuri. You’ve always done a fine job and I appreciate that. I know you’re one of the few people I can trust.”  
Renta nodded softly, buried her nose even deeper in Wataru’s shirt and enjoyed the moment of beloved silence.  
  
Shiiran was woken up by a soft touch on her lips, a body pressing against hers in demand and a suck on her lower lip. It made her moan softly, yet she kept her eyes closed. She sighed slightly and wrapped her arms on the other’s body. Her hazy mind could hardly tell who was kissing her but it was so soft and warm that she didn’t want to let go of it. For a second she could swear that she tasted a faint hint of fruity cocktails and slipped her hand under what she believed was a shirt. However when she did, the other grabbed her wrist and Shiiran opened her eyes, met Miyacchi’s face.  
“Stop it”, the other growled. “I didn’t allow you to touch me.”  
“I’m sorry”, Shiiran mumbled in response and pulled her hand out again, continued looking at the other.  
“Don’t look at me like this.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“Stop apologizing.”  
She didn’t respond anymore and instead lowered her gaze. Miyacchi pulled back from her, sat up and left the bed. Shiiran also slowly sat up, watched Miyacchi get over to Renta’s cupboard and took out something to wear before she started changing. The drummer gulped slightly while Miya forced herself into skinny jeans and a deep cut top.  
“Miya?”, Shiiran silently asked. “Can’t we stay in bed a little longer?”  
“Wataru wouldn’t approve of this.”  
“But we never just cuddle anymore.”  
“Wataru said I should come over as soon as I’m awake. She’ll get angry if I’m late.”  
“… I miss you.”  
“Wataru…”  
“Would you please stop starting every sentence with your sister’s name?”  
“Don’t you dare shaming my sister’s name!”  
“I’m not shaming anyone. I’m just tired hearing you apologize everything with Wataru’s name.”  
“She’s still my sister. So stop it.”  
Shiiran indeed stopped. She wasn’t awake enough to start a fight and not awake enough to take on Miyacchi’s obsession with her sister. She was so tired of it. Always the same fight, always the same outcome. They wouldn’t talk for days and then go on as if nothing had happened, though she didn’t want to go on like this. Slowly she dragged herself out of bed, walked over to Miya when she was searching for a belt in one of the middle drawers, put her hands left and right of the other on the wood and leaned her head on Miyacchi’s shoulders.  
“Why won’t you let me touch you? I miss you so much.”  
“Because I said no.”  
“If you don’t want me anymore, then tell me. Then I won’t even try.”  
Miyacchi paused for a second.  
“… We need to get ready.”  
Shiiran grabbed the other’s hand and turned her around.  
“Do you want me gone or not?!”  
“That’s none of your business! You do as I tell you or I’ll tell Wataru to call your parents that you signed over your property and everything you inherit to her!”  
Slowly the drummer stepped back and lowered her head, gulped heavily. She knew that this would be her downfall. As a drummer, she was replaceable by everyone out on the street. The only thing actually keeping her in the band was the money Wataru would get once her parents would die. She was already scared by that day. As soon as she had no more use, she was out unless Miyacchi stepped in and calmed her sister. Shiiran nodded.  
“Okay…” She gulped. “I… I go home and go change… I’ll see you later.”  
Miyacchi didn’t answer, so the drummer quickly grabbed her pants, slipped into them and left the apartment. She didn’t even look or care if Renta was asleep on the couch. She would wake up early enough.  
She just couldn’t understand it. If she didn’t want her, then why wouldn’t she just tell her? She could live with the thought of just taking the whole bottle of pills right after her parent’s death but not if she was unsure whether or not Miyacchi actually had feelings for her. Not so long ago she had been so sure, but not anymore.   
Shiiran just left the apartment, reached the stairs when a door was slammed shut not far behind her. Mikkii stormed out of her apartment, her shoe not even tied properly and looked as if she fell out of her bed. She had no makeup on, her hair was untidy, shirt and trousers clearly her own since they were bright yellow and navy-blue (a combination Wataru didn’t approve of at all) and she hastily tried fixing everything while she fell over to the stars.  
“Mikkii? I thought you were staying with Wataru for the night.”  
She decided to hurry after the younger woman.  
“I was…”, she panted. “… but she drove me home because she had work or something and I was supposed to come over but I lost my phone somewhere and I don’t know whether she called or not and if she did I’m so fucking screwed.”  
Mikkii’s voice died the longer she went on and in the end, Shiiran expected her to sob. Luckily she didn’t but it still broke her heart a little hearing her like this. She knew that ignoring Wataru was not an option and that Wataru would interpret it as such even if Mikkii really lost her phone. She hurried a little more, grabbed the other’s hand.  
“Come on. I’ll think of something.”  
Good thing the club was simply down the street, so they wouldn’t take that long. But what to say? Maybe if she said that she accidently broke the other’s phone when she found it? That was… if she ever found it again.  
They quickly slipped through the front door, both of them stopped in slight shock because of the notes vibrating through the air. Shiiran frowned.  
“What the…?”  
It had been ages that Renta had been in the club at this hour and even longer that she was awake at the same time. Yet she sat on top of the stage, her beloved guitar on her lap, some notes scattered in front of her and she was surely trying to figure out the melody on it. When she heard the door slam, she looked over, grinned widely and got up.  
“Well someone’s here early. Where did you leave Miya?”  
“Why are you already here, Renta?”, Shiiran asked. “And… awake as well? I expected to find you passed out on one of the tables at most.”  
The blonde rolled her eyes.  
“Oh come on. I was lazy and now I have to do extra hours to learn that stupid new song.” The blonde nodded over to the door. “Wataru is in her office if you search for her, Mikkii.” The youngest was almost off running for the door when Renta called out for her again. “Oh and one more thing.” She pulled out a phone with a small keychain, jumped down the stage and pressed it into Mikkii’s hands, winking at her. “Be more careful next time, okay? I told Wataru I accidently packed it in, so you shouldn’t get into trouble.”  
Mikkii smiled relieved and stammered a “thank you” before she finally headed for the door, threw it shut behind her. The drummer walked over to her friend.  
“Where did you get that?”, she wondered and Renta crossed her arms behind her head.  
“I found it in the hallway when I left.”  
Shiiran couldn’t help but smile.  
“Thanks, Renta.”  
“No problem. We don’t have to make it more difficult than it already is, right?” Renta climbed back on stage. “Care to give me a beat?”  
  
Mikkii felt herself shaking when she stood in front of Wataru’s door, her phone tightly gripped and gulped. What if Renta was wrong? What if her godfather was angry after all? Shyly she knocked and waited until she was called in, slipped through the tiniest crack in the door and shut it behind herself. Wataru sat behind her desk, looked up from her papers and smiled when she noticed Mikkii coming closer.  
“Well good morning. I didn’t expect you so early”, the older woman said and while Mikkii lowered her gaze, she noticed the cup of coffee on the desk, immediately remembered she was supposed to bring some and hoped that Wataru just wouldn’t notice.  
“I… I thought…”  
“Thought it’s really flattering that you show up anyway. How can I help you?”  
“Uhm… U-Uhm…”, the waitress stammered. Maybe she could set things right? “I just… wanted to say I’m sorry. About yesterday I mean. I was just…”  
“Tired. I know. And I accept your apology.” She waved Mikkii closer and the younger followed, sat down on the other’s lap and felt Wataru play with her hair. “You worked well lately, Mikkii, so I decided to give you a treat. You don’t need to come with me tomorrow morning.”  
The redhead could hardly believe what she just heard. She looked at her boss in surprise.  
“Thank… thank you.”  
“I just would like you to fetch Renta for me when you have the time and make sure she rehearses your song well. I know she won’t unless you beat her to it and it’s practice for you as well.”  
Mikkii frowned.  
“My song?”  
“Yes. I song I ordered that I would like you to sing when the time is right.” Wataru reached forward and pulled out a few papers out from a folder. “This one to be specific. It’s perfectly within your voice range and you should be easily able to outplay Tomomin. She likes to take the lead if you’re not careful about it.”  
Mikkii took the papers and quickly flipped through it. She couldn’t quite grasp the full of it immediately, yet it sounded interesting. It was hard having her mouth closed when she looked at Wataru’s smile. The devil from the day before was completely gone.  
“I… Wataru, I…”  
“Be grateful”, the other said strictly. “Be grateful for what I do for you. That’s our agreement.”


	10. I like you

“What do you mean ‘She’s not in yet’?”  
“It means that she’s not in.”  
“But I thought she’s going to rehears with us.”  
“Well not today. Tomorrow.”  
Shiiran felt her heart jump when she heard Miyacchi talk so casually about this while she stared on her pages. She knew Miya sometimes was cold-hearted, especially when it seemed to come to Mikkii, however she, out of all people, should have known what it meant if people in Mikkii’s position just didn’t show up for work. After Mikkii had left the club with Wataru the day before, she didn’t meet her anymore. It was still early but the younger should have been in over an hour ago.   
“How do you know?”, she finally asked, more silent this time.   
“Wataru told me.”  
That really didn’t calm her down. Instead it made her more nervous than she already was.  
“But what if Wataru did something to her? For what happened yesterday.”  
“Would you relax finally?” Miyacchi slammed the papers down on the desk in front of her. “She’s perfectly fine. My sister went shopping with her yesterday and today she has a day off, so what are you making such a fuzz about?”  
“A… what?” Shiiran raised her eyebrows, blinked and stared at the other. She didn’t hear those words for a long time. “Those things still exist?”  
“Of course they do. Stop being so ignorant about it. My sister is not the monster you want her to be.”  
For a second Shiiran wanted to throw a ‘Yes she is’ right into Miyacchi’s face, but she knew better not to. Miyacchi knew perfectly well what her big sister was doing to other people and she still tolerated and cherished it. Shiiran sat down on a chair on the other end of the room.   
“Shiiran”, Miya said loudly and made her look at her once again. “I told you not to get too close to that Mitsuki-girl, didn’t I?”  
“I know, but…”  
“No ‘but’ here. How many times do I have to tell you? You’re mine. I saved you from Wataru’s wrath. All I ask of you is to keep your eyes and hands where they belong.”  
“And where do they belong?”  
“On me, obviously.”  
  
Once more Mikkii rolled over on her bed, stretched her arms and legs, her fingers, her toes, her neck and basically everything that was stretchable. It felt heavenly not to get up immediately after getting ripped out of a dream by her alarm and rushing everything. Instead she went on slowly. The thought of staying in bed all day long was really flirting with her, however after what she went through for the last weeks, her brain told her she needed to do at least something that day. Instead of quickly jumping out of the bed, going for a short, cold shower, getting dressed and leaving without breakfast, she slowly peeled herself out of the sheets, decided it was too cold and grabbed one of her covers to pull around her shoulders, left it halfway in the hallway (Wataru hated her doing that), slipped inside the shower just to stay there for what felt like hours under the hot water. To top it off, she prepared the biggest meal she could pull, way too much for herself to eat and she decided to store the rest of it in the fridge to eat the next day.   
However she jumped when her cellphone rang loudly. Immediately she felt her heart pounding, ran over to her bag to fish out the phone from there. It was Wataru’s message-tone and for some reason hearing it made her nervous. Her mind ran through everything that her godfather said to her lately, however she couldn’t remember for the life of her if the woman wanted her to do something specific on her day off. Fearing she forgot something important she flipped the phone open.  
  
 _Hope you have a nice day. Don’t forget to bring your papers and your song tomorrow.  
Wataru  
  
_ Moaning slightly, she fell on the chair beside the wardrobe, ran her hand through her hair and scratched the back of her head. How could it be she was scared by a mere jingle of her phone? She was aware of how much Wataru controlled her life, every part of it, yet it annoyed her just as much as it scared her.   
Another jingle followed, this time from the door but she wasn’t expecting anyone? Not that she remembered at least. Slowly she got up when a knock on the door followed the ring.  
“Come on, Mikkii”, she heard Renta’s voice outside. “I know you’re inside. Open up.”  
Mikkii frowned, finally pushed down the handle of the door to open it up. Renta’s wide, grinning face stared right at her while she leaned in the doorframe.   
“Good morning! Hope you had a nice rest?”  
“What are you doing here?” She scanned the blonde from head to toes. “And… awake as well. I’m not going to the club today.”  
“I know, I know.” Renta pushed herself past her and headed straight for the kitchen once she threw aside her shoes. “But I have a day off and I’m bored so I figured I pay you a visit.”  
The younger wasn’t quick enough to follow her when she already heard the blonde open up the fridge and what sounded like her stuffing the remaining of Mikkii’s breakfast inside her mouth.  
“Pay me a visit or rob me of my food?”  
With a plate in her hand, Renta opened up one of the drawers to pick out some chopsticks. It made the younger wonder how the blonde specifically opened it as if she knew exactly where to search for the chopsticks, but she couldn’t wonder for long since Renta started stuffing the food in her mouth while she continued talking.  
“Visiting you, of course. Don’t be so gloomy. I thought about coming over an hour ago but I figured you would sleep till noon so I didn’t.”  
“Are you sure it wasn’t YOU who wanted the extra hour of sleep?”  
It was strange seeing Renta without her hair made, without the leather jacket, boots and pants, without the fur and without the ripped shirts. In her green, wide shirt, the loose jeans and the pink socks, her hair hanging down and glasses on her nose she seemed almost… normal.   
“Pretty sure considering Shiiran called me out of bed three hours ago asking where I was and that she couldn’t stand Miya for long without me. Seems most of the band got a day off today.”  
“And Shiiran didn’t?”  
“With Miyacchi around, there is never a day off.”  
Mikkii sat down on the small table in the kitchen, crossed her legs and looked at the other. She hoped that Renta wouldn’t choke on how quickly she inhaled the food like a starved dog.  
“Seems you know pretty well.”  
“I’ve been around long enough.” She gulped and put aside the empty plate. “Is there more?”  
“Help yourself”, Mikkii sighed, knowing there was no stopping her anyway. It was not like she particularly cared. She didn’t like most of the food in her fridge yet since Wataru’s henchmen (she lacked a better word) always ninjaed their way inside her apartment to clean up, do chores and fill up her fridge, she couldn’t decide on what to eat and what not to. This apartment felt more like a hotel than a home.  
“By the way: did Wataru finally give you your song?”, Renta asked while she continued searching through the fridge.  
“You know about it?”  
“I ran into our songwriter yesterday, so I figured.”  
“… Is that a normal procedure?”  
“For girls like you to get a song?”  
“Exactly.”  
Renta looked up at her, got up to her feet and rolled a small loaf of bread in her hands.   
“To be honest…”, she started, pulled out a few more things before closing the fridge and placing the tower on the table. “Well… usually the girls don’t stick around this long for Wataru to give them such a big treat. By this point, I’ve seen girls never even daring to leave the club. Wataru must really like you to even give you a day off.”  
Mikkii lowered her gaze. In the corner of her eye she watched Renta prepare a sandwich. Or sandwiches in this case.  
“I wonder why she changed her mind so suddenly. I was so sure she would rip my head off just there.”  
“You should be happy about it for once, Mikkii. She does like you or she wouldn’t do that.” Renta leaned forward so that her eyes met Mikkii’s just to grin wide in her face. “So smile, okay? Shiiran is always crying to me about how she wants to see you smile again.”  
Maybe it wasn’t the speech, but Renta’s smiling face that finally made the younger smile softly as well. Could it be that Wataru really liked her? Not as a pet, well not mostly, but as herself? She hoped so. She missed talking to Shiiran because she never really got around to do it when she was running errands for Wataru.  
  
Renta grinned a little more when Mikkii finally put on a smile again. Fake or not, it would do for now. Instead she focused back on her sandwich, prepared one, then two, then a third and fourth and handed one of it over to the younger woman.  
“Here. Eat. I want to do stuff today and I don’t need you hungry.”  
“What?” Mikkii looked puzzled. “I really don’t want to leave the house today, Ren.”  
“Come on~. It will be fun.”  
“That depends on your definition of fun.”  
“Well… you see… I have these two cards for the theatre this afternoon.”  
Mikkii almost coughed up the sandwich she just bit off of, looked at her with giant eyes. Renta doubted they would get any bigger.  
“Y-You… what?”  
“A gift from Sena. Well Ayaki to be specific. Wataru didn’t want them, Miyacchi hates theatre and without her, Shiiran won’t go, so they left them with me. I figured you would maybe like to go with me.”  
Renta took a huge bite from her sandwich, sat down in front of the other and watch her stare at hers as if it was the most thrilling novel she ever read.   
“And… it’s okay?”  
“Oh come on. It’s your day off and Wataru doesn’t need to know. Actually Sena hates her so much that she would most likely be glad to hide your visit from her. Please?”  
“What’s the play?”  
“I don’t know… Higher than the Sky… something, something?”  
“Higher than the Sky of Paris?”   
The blonde felt a sudden release as she watched Mikkii’s face brighten up even more when Renta nodded. Then she stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, ran for the bathroom. Renta didn’t even think about telling her that the play was not until the late afternoon, so she had enough time to keep track of her.   
  
“And what do you want _me_ to do about it?”  
“Couldn’t you just fire her? Something? Give her a little push?”  
“Why should I do that?”  
“Sis, please… I really don’t want her around Shiiran.”  
Wataru’s eyebrow rose up and she leaned on the desk, stared right at Miyacchi.  
“Miya… It’s not my problem if Shiiran can’t set her mind on you. She’s yours and I told you that you are the one who has to feed her, to pet her, to keep her company…”  
“But… but all she thinks about is Mitsuki. I don’t want that.”  
“Still, my darling princess, it is not my problem.”  
“Wataru…”  
Miyacchi pouted harder, stared on the floor and crossed her arms in front of her. She heard Wataru get up, walk over to her and felt her petting her head.  
“Sis, you have to learn that not everything is as you want it to be. You know what we do with things we don’t like.”  
“We change it.”  
“Exactly. If Shiiran’s so foolish setting eyes on another then you have to make her look at you again instead.”  
“But how? I tried everything already.”  
“Why not ask Renta?”  
“You know I don’t want help from her.”  
“I don’t get why not. She always knows what people need.”  
“Yeah and fucks all my potential girlfriends while she’s at it.”  
In the corner of her eyes, Miyacchi saw Wataru roll hers.  
“Oh come on”, the elder started annoyed. “Is this still about that girl from before? What was her name?”  
“Kai-chan…”  
“Whatever. If you can’t work it out, ask Renta to do it for you. Now go out and play. I’m busy.”  
  
Mikkii wasn’t really sure how Renta got her into going shopping with her, however before she knew, she had a bag filled with small goodies in her hand, containing a shirt and trousers, some jewelry and a new hat. Most importantly: it wasn’t picked out by Wataru and that made her truly happy for once. Out of her usual attire Renta also proved to be pretty normal indeed. She had a nice conversation with the blonde, goofed around with her even though she sometimes found herself rolling her eyes at an inappropriate joke, however it was balanced. Renta seemed to try at least.   
They were walking down the street, Renta fetched herself a bottle to drink and held it in her hand, when the blonde quickly flipped through a few messages on her phone before she let out a shocked noise.  
“O crap!”, she mumbled, looked over to the younger woman. “We should really, really hurry if we don’t want to come too late to the theatre.”  
“Why? How much time do we have?”  
“Well… I’d say about thirty minutes, including getting there first.”  
“What?! But I’m not even properly dressed yet!”  
“That’s what I just said.”  
Just to make sure, Mikkii threw a gaze on her own clock before she scanned the street for the quickest way to get back to her apartment. Maybe she hadn’t been in the city for the longest time, but running around at Wataru’s side all day long had the advantage that she had a pretty good idea where she was and how she could go back quickly. She quickly grabbed Renta’s hand and pulled her with her.  
“Come on! This way!”  
“What? Where are we going?”  
“I think I know how we can still make it in time.”  
Mikkii pulled the older woman behind her, down the street and over a traffic light, turned and headed for a small alleyway, however just when she set foot in it, Renta grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She stopped on her spot, still holding the other woman, sort of, and looked at her puzzled. Renta’s gaze headed down the alleyway, past Mikkii and was frozen on her spot.  
“Ren?”, Mikkii asked carefully. “Are you coming?”  
“We… we should get around.”  
“Why? This is way faster if we head through here.”  
“Wouldn’t it be faster if we head for the next underground station?”  
“Actually no. And I have no money to afford it anyway.” She got a little closer to the blonde. “What is it?”  
“Nothing! I simply don’t think that going through there would do us any good!”  
“Well standing here and talking about it won’t take us away from here.”  
Mikkii watched Renta once again how she was throwing another gaze down the alley. It was just a feeling, however Mikkii somehow guessed that Renta didn’t want to go through the alley because of personal reasons. She sighed.  
“Fine”, the younger said, grabbed Renta’s hand again. “We’ll go around. But if we can’t make it, you owe me one.”  
  
Needless to say that they didn’t make it back in time. The theatre had been way too far away to make it even if they have had any other way of transportation. Renta sighed softly and put away the bottles in her back before she started heading upstairs again. Actually she had headed to buy something to drink in order to avoid Mikkii’s sad face, her slightly disappointed look. Halfway up the stairs, she stopped and pulled out her phone, rang an oh so familiar number.  
“What do you want? I’m busy.”  
“I know. Hello to you, too, Sena.”  
“Make it quick.”  
“I was… just wondering if you could maybe and under any circumstances…”  
“Get to the point.”  
“… well… could you maybe get me a few tickets? For another date?”  
“What? I already gave you two. Give me one reason why I should give you more.” She made a short pause. “Talking about it… shouldn’t you be in the theatre.”  
“I… somehow… forgot the time.”  
“Well that’s not my problem. The play is sold out. It’s not my problem how you can impress your little girlfriend.”  
“To be honest: she’s not my girlfriend. She’s Wataru’s…”  
Wataru’s name however seemed to flip a switch.  
“Oh so it’s about Mitsuki? Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”  
“You know how Wataru gets…”  
“And you know how much I love seeing your sister angry. So what would you have me do?”  
“She’s not my sister. You know that.” Renta sighed. “Mikkii loves theatre. Maybe you could give her a walk when Wataru is over next time? She’s not allowed to go on auditions but maybe that’ll lift her mood.”  
“That’s awfully thoughtful of you, Ren. But fine. Maybe I can get Wataru to slip on a banana peel at least. That would be something I would like to see.”  
“Thanks a lot.” Renta smiled wider “I owe you something.”  
“Indeed you do. I’ll get back to it.”  
With the bottles in her back and a much better mood, the blonde made her back to her apartment. Since she and Mikkii were more or less neighbors, she talked the younger into staying at hers where Wataru wouldn’t look and where she didn’t need to fear the older marching in at any second. As much as she liked the owner of the club, she hated her habit of just walking into every room she had a key of. Inside, she found Mikkii sitting on the couch, staring on the pieces of papers Renta had scattered around and silently humming the tunes to herself.  
“Doesn’t sound half bad”, Renta commented. “Come to think of it, I never heard you sing properly. Aside from Karaoke.”  
Mikkii looked up from the paper, still had a sad sparkle in her eyes. The blonde felt a small sting in her chest, thinking about that she really wanted to bring the other to that show. Hopefully Sena was able to work something out.   
“Sorry. I thought I might recognize something.”  
“Had any luck?”  
“Nah…”  
Renta sat down her back, took out two of the bottles and gave one to the younger woman before seating herself beside her. It was easy for her opening her own bottle, handed the opener over and watched Mikkii fight with her bottle. Of course she could have helped immediately, however she wanted the younger to release some stress on said bottle. Actually she even expected Mikkii to talk back to her on that bottle of beer however she wouldn’t object if the younger would just have a drink with her without arguing about it for once.   
  
Mikkii really, really wasn’t the type for alcohol, especially not beer, yet she was still somehow sad that they didn’t make it to the play. It had been so long since she had seen a theatre from inside and she missed it, missed the smell and the feeling standing on a stage with people over people watching her play, watching her sing.   
She took another sip from the beer, almost emptied it by doing so.  
“Easy there, tiger”, Renta said. She was still at her first bottle. “Don’t get drunk. Wataru’ll kill me if you show up with a hangover.”  
“I’ll be fine.”  
Actually she already felt tipsy. Not drunk, just a little dizzy. Wataru just had to suck it up. She tried to take another sip, however Renta took the bottle from her before she could do so.  
“Sure, sure. Just to be on the safe side, I’ll take this.”  
“Hey!”  
“Just because we missed the play doesn’t mean you should get so depressed! It’s just a play.”  
“It’s not! I really, really wanted to see that! It would have been the first time in ages that I see a theatre from the inside and now I miss it because you didn’t want to go through the freaking alley!” Mikkii watched the older woman, sighed softly before shaking her head. “Sorry…”  
“No. You’re right. I just should have gone.”  
The younger blinked. Did she just hear correctly? However she didn’t dare asking for why Renta didn’t want to walk the alley. There were so many things she could think of spontaneously, yet one thing was more absurd than the next. Maybe she should have left her hands off the alcohol after all. She wanted to talk, however couldn’t tell about what to talk about. Her eyes caught Renta’s guitar standing on a pedestal.   
“How long have you been playing?”, she finally asked, looking over to the blonde. She shrugged.  
“Don’t know. Since I was… 11 I guess? Maybe 12.”  
“That’s a long time.”  
“Can you play?” Mikkii shook her head and Renta grinned. “I can show you a few things.”  
“You would? But I don’t know if I’m any good or not.”  
Renta smiled a little wider and Mikkii felt how her bad consciousness fell off her from earlier. She watched Renta getting the guitar, setting the instrument on the younger’s lap and Mikkii held it as if she just had picked up a lost puppy, however she stared at the older woman while she placed her hands correctly.   
“So listen… you put your hand here and you pull the strings like this…” Mikkii laughed softly. “Why are you laughing?”  
“Because I can’t remember seeing you like this before. It’s so pretty.”  
Renta blinked at her. Maybe it was because of the alcohol or because the blonde had put her in the right position, however the other seemed so much closer than before, close enough to see her eyes sparkle while she told her what to do and how to hold her baby.   
“What?”  
“Oh… nothing. Really nothing.” She looked down on her hands. “So… what do I do now?”  
  
Renta couldn’t quite figure out what to make out of it, but she went with it or better: she ignored it. She was used being called pretty but not so out of context. Instead she did the one thing she really liked and that was showing people how to play the guitar. Of course Mikkii wasn’t even close to play, yet she was quite good under her instruction. Renta ended up having Mikkii sit between her legs so that she could easily guide the other’s hands over the strings, pull them softly and get out a melody.   
“I’m sorry for earlier”, the blonde mumbled softly. “That alley I mean…”  
“Doesn’t matter.” Renta heard that Mikkii may had a sip too much of her beer. “It’s not your fault if you don’t want to walk through an alley.”  
“It just seems so childish.”  
Mikkii stopped their hands, gazed over to her. Since Renta had her head on Mikkii’s shoulder, she could look at her easily.  
“It’s not. You do childish things, but this is not childish. I saw you were afraid.”  
“… More like terrified”, Renta added more silent.  
“That’s why it’s okay.” Mikkii pressed a small, faint kiss on her cheek and made the blonde blush. “I like you, Renren. I wouldn’t want you scared. Maybe we could walk through there together next time, when we’re not having stress? I’ll protect you.”  
“Why would you…?”  
“Because facing our fears is the only way to make them go away. Or at least live with them.”  
Renta carefully gripped Mikkii’s hands tighter, bit her bottom lip.   
“Okay…”, she silently said. “I… I like you, too.”


	11. Of gods and mortals

She knew she shouldn’t. She knew she would get into trouble. Yet when she saw Mikkii walk through the door, unharmed and with a much rosier color than the last few days, she couldn’t help it. Shiiran got up from her spot, left her instrument, and Miyacchi for the matter, behind and walked over to the younger woman.  
“Mikkii! Oh thank goodness… I was so worried you got into trouble”, she silently said and earned a smile from the other woman. She had a small bag and a large coffee in her hand, her own bag on her back.  
“Thank you, but I’m fine. I had a nice day off yesterday and I feel much better.”  
“I didn’t really believe Miya when she said Wataru gave you some actual free time…”  
“Well, I wasn’t ripped into pieces yet, so I suppose it’s true. I guess I shouldn’t get used to it though.”  
Shiiran laughed slightly. It felt good talking to the other woman again after she felt so obviously down and after all that had happened. She simply hoped Miya wouldn’t go running off to her sister again just because of a mere talk.   
“I’ll see you later, I suppose?”, Mikkii asked and slightly tilted the cup in her hand. “I have to get this upstairs. I rather not push my luck.”  
“Sure. I’m curious how you came along with your song.”  
  
“See you later then”, Mikkii replied before she walked towards the stairs and Wataru’s office. It was right that she did indeed feel better, however actually not as well as she probably could. The little alcohol she had the day before made her deep asleep after she said goodnight to Renta, however her alarm clock pulled her back to her sick reality. She wouldn’t have minded Renta showing her a few more tricks on the guitar, talking to her a little more. Having her away from the others completely flipped her switch and Mikkii couldn’t think of another term to describe her but “charming”. Really charming and nice. Hard to believe she was with Wataru and Miya for a long time. Maybe she was playing a role? As if the world was her stage and she was an actor who didn’t want to get fired.   
Silently she knocked on the door, waited until she was called inside and put on a smile. Wataru was way easier to handle when she believed Mikkii to be in a good mood. Not that she had a choice, really. Wataru expected her to smile, to be in a good mood at all times.   
“Good morning”, she said and Wataru returned her smile.  
“Good morning, Mikkii. How went your free day?”  
Mikkii set everything she brought on the table. First the cup of coffee, the breakfast she picked up for Wataru, the cleaned shirt and two bottles of water, followed by a few documents.  
“It was quite nice. I didn’t expect Ren to show up, though.”  
“I suppose she kept you busy?”, Wataru answered with a silent laugh. “Did the two of you go out?”  
“Having a stroll through the city, but nothing special. She showed me a few things on her guitar though.”  
Wataru fell silent for a moment and exactly that made Mikkii a little worried. It was never a good sign when Wataru wasn’t talking.  
“She let you use her guitar?”  
“… Is anything wrong with it?”  
Another short moment of silence.  
“No. No, I guess it’s alright. It’s hers after all.” The older put on another smile. “She must like you, Mikkii.”  
“I… I try to get along.”  
“Don’t get along too well. I rather not have another incident like the time with Shiiran.”  
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll remember it.” Mikkii stared down on her fingers which she had crossed in front of her belly, inhaled unintentionally. “I… I wouldn’t want anyone beside you, Wataru.”  
To be honest: she had no idea where that came from. She just didn’t want anyone else hurt just because she happened to be close to somebody.  
“And I don’t want it any other way”, the taller woman answered, got up and walked around her desk, waving her close. “Be a good girl, Mikkii. Come here.”  
  
The loud ringing of her doorbell made Renta fall down her couch, made her fall with a loud “THUD”.   
“Owowowow…”, she silently whimpered and pushed her body off the floor. “Ah goddamn it. Who the fuck…?”  
Yawning she dragged herself over to the door, opened it slowly and stared outside. Because she didn’t have her glasses on, it was actually rather difficult to do so and she squinted her eyes shut for a second.  
“Good morning, Sayuri”, the soft voice said and she met a smile when she opened her eyes again. “I’m sorry… did I wake you up?”  
Renta’s face lightened right up and she opened the door, fell around the neck of the other woman.  
“Touko! I didn’t expect you here!”  
“Well I was in the area anyway and I thought I’d pay you a visit. Can I come in?”  
“Of course! Sure! I… I’m sorry about the mess, though.”  
Quickly she hurried inside, tried to pick up some things while she went for the living room. Mostly bottles and empty bags of snacks, a few leftovers from her fastfood and so on.  
“You really don’t need to clean up for me, dear. I just brought breakfast and I hoped we could talk a little.”  
Ren tried tidying up anyways. Touko usually wasn’t the kind of woman who wanted to sit around in garbage all day, a thing Wataru picked up from their time together. Over the years, back when they were a thing, they made a habit out of correcting each other and cleaning up so everything was perfectly sparkling. In a loving way, but the perfectionists wouldn’t stop until everything was clean.   
While she was at it, the blonde picked out some dishes after Touko followed her into the kitchen and sat down on the small table in the corner.  
“This really is your place”, she said with a slight laugh. “I’m surprised you don’t have a guitar in each and every room.”  
“Nah. I just need one in here. My baby is a special one after all.”  
“You still got the same one?”  
“Sure. Why should I? I got it from Youko.. Wataru after all.”  
Touko’s smile turned sad and she stared down on the table.  
“I miss calling her that”, she silently said. Renta carefully put down the dishes before she sat down next to the older woman.  
“You said you wanted to talk? I guess it’s about Wataru?”  
Touko nodded.  
“Indeed. I’ve been out of the picture for so long that I have no idea what’s up. I hoped you could give me a quick rundown.”  
“I…”, Renta started. Could she talk about it? Without getting in trouble that was. Wataru was always particularly strict when it came about exchange of information, however by this point she had so many rules that no one but her could keep up with it.  
“Sayuri… I’ve known you since forever. Don’t worry about Wataru. I won’t tell anybody you filled me in.”  
The blonde nodded slightly, leaned back and sighed softly.  
“It’s getting worse, I think. Ever since you left, there’s no one to hold her back anymore. The whole club is nothing but a brothel anymore.”  
“I know. Komu showed me the contracts. I can’t believe Wataru paid someone to figure that out for her back then.”  
“Well she DOES have connections and Zunko loves nothing more than money…”  
“You know how I think about Zunko.” Touko sighed. “So… that Mitsuki-girl… is she the new Dan?”  
“I hope she won’t turn out like her, but yes. She took over her spot.”  
“How is she now? Did she get her day off after all?”  
Renta nodded.  
“Yes. I guess you screaming at Wataru somehow did the job. But aside from that, nothing really changed. Well except Miya becomes more and more like her sister.”  
“Miya always looked up to Wataru. Of course she wants to be like her.”  
“She wants it too much if you ask me. She treats Shiiran worse by the day and really the only thing stopping Shiiran from being with Mikkii is that whole fucked up game.”  
  
Renta took her time filling Touko into everything that had happened up to this point. After Dan’s death, Touko had decided to cut strings to Wataru and her club, to everything including her past actually. The only thing keeping her connected was her job as songwriter and exactly this made her go back. Wataru hardly requested a song from her, perfectly knowing that, if she did, Touko would propose to her again and everything would come back.   
To be honest: she still couldn’t comprehend it. Wataru’s twisted picture of perfection stopped her from accepting her proposal and all this just because of Saeko. Wataru never got over their breakup and instead of going on like Saeko and her wife did, she decided to drag everyone down with her instead. Money, power and a twisted mind were a dangerous combination and the woman had enough of each.  
“I see”, Touko softly said when Renta finished her story. “So… let me get this correctly: Wataru will put this Mikkii on her stage and make her trip just so that she will be stuck as waitress?”  
“At this point I actually think she’ll replace Miyacchi with her, but that’s not what either of them want.”  
She nodded softly. Miya wanted to stick with the band, the ones she loved, Mikkii wanted to get on a theatre stage and Wataru didn’t approve of either of this. If she sent Miya on tour, starting a solo career, of course that would make the big sister happy.  
“I miss the time where you guys were still together”, Renta silently added. “After your band broke up, she was so down. You made her happy.”  
“Maybe that was the problem…”  
Back in school, when the small group of Wataru, Saeko, Komu and Touko were still a band, a popular one in comparison to many other bands in their city. She still had no idea how or why Saeko broke up with Wataru, however she knew that all already started back then. The end of the band devastated Wataru and yet Touko was there with all her heart to support her and helped her back on her feet. Yet one day, she had been pushed away. All of the sudden.  
“Does this mean you’ll come back, Touko?”  
“I first need to figure out how I can help you without hurting all of you in return. Me talking to her is one thing, but if it backfires, I fear for all of you, especially your new girl.”  
“Mikkii had a breakdown two days ago. I hoped to never see anyone like this again.”  
The way Renta stared on the floor made Touko smile a little. She hardly saw little Sayuri concerned about anyone ever.  
“There, there”, she softly said and carefully pet the others head. “You like her, don’t you?”  
“… She’s nice. Usually I only get to hang out with Shiiran or Miya.”  
“I figured Wataru would approve of you hanging out with her.”  
“Not unless it involves keeping an eye on her. She hardly lets anyone talk to Mikkii. I doubt she knows half the staff by name.” Renta sighed once more. “I never thought the last song Wataru wrote would be the theme for the rest of her life.”  
Touko’s smile faded.   
“ _C’est la vie. Remember me, I made you, dressed and trained you.”_ She looked sad. “I remember the lyrics. Though I’m not sure who she pointed it at.”  
“With lines like ‘ _Strip down and show me flesh and bones’_? Saeko I suppose.”  
She couldn’t bear to see the other so sad and so down. She knew Renta from the day Wataru brought her home with her, back when she got to know Miya and when she still had a heart for those around her. More than ever, she missed these times because that was the woman she first fell in love with even though back then she was still with Saeko.  
“Sayuri?”, she said softer once again. These days, the younger women needed all the affection they could get that was not based on a pure physical base. “I’ll do what I can, okay? Maybe there’s a way to make Wataru remember who she was before. I just… don’t know how yet.”  
  
Desperately Shiiran pulled on the piece of fabric which Miya used to tie her down and finally broke down with a small cry. Miya still clawed her hair in order to keep her standing. At least it made her feel something from all this. With her hands tied above her head and numb, her equally numb legs and her empty mind. She just wanted to get it over with.  
“… Do you remember now, Azu? You’re still mine.”  
Tired, she looked up and met Miya’s eyes. She hated every second of this. Not only did she feel like a hung up pig, all these touches the other gave her meant nothing to her anymore. Not like this. But just as she looked at the other, she looked down, accepting her fate. She would do so much to stop all of this. She longed for holding the person she was with, feeling the soft skin under her fingertips and press small kisses on it. Mikkii wouldn’t do this to her, would she? Shiiran still had the scene in the club stuck in her head. She couldn’t even remotely remember what it felt like actually feeling loved.  
The slap she earned just supported this image, though it brought her back into the cold reality. The sweat on her skin made her start freezing.  
“Stop spacing out!”, Miyacchi hissed. “You’re here with me!”  
“I’m sorry…”  
Shiiran felt her voice being weak and her throat hurt.   
“This is exactly why we’re doing this. Didn’t you learn already? I am the one you should be thinking about 24/7 and not making your little brain shut off when I’m touching you!”  
“Sorry…”  
“… Look at me.”  
Shiiran lazily looked up, didn’t even try to hide how tired she was. She knew this procedure well enough from her time with Wataru. Miyacchi wouldn’t stop until she did how she was told. Then again, this was nothing compared to what the older sister did to her. Compared to her, Miya was nothing but a cuddly puppy. Though Wataru’s manipulation and abuse were not mainly physical, Shiiran felt way more exhausted with her than with the younger sister. With Miya, she could just space out until she was done.  
“Now tell me you love me”, Miya growled slightly.  
“I love you.” Shiiran’s answer was forced on and nothing but a whisper.  
“… Mean it.”  
However this made Shiiran shut up. She couldn’t. Not anymore. Not after she was reminded how it felt like to actually have kindness returned to oneself.   
“Didn’t you hear me?! I gave you an order!”  
“… Why would you do this to me?”, Shiiran asked instead. “This is not you…”  
“Do. As. You. Are. Told.”  
“You changed…  I can’t mean it anymore. I’m sorry. You’re… not the person I fell in love with. Just your sister’s copy.” She weakly smiled. It was so hard to breathe. “I just… want to hold you…  and love you… like a normal person.”  
  
Miya couldn’t help it. She was angry. Very, very angry hearing Shiiran talk like this. She didn’t need any of this bullshit! She wasn’t vulnerable and most of all, she didn’t need to be taken care of! Not by Shiiran and not by her sister! She could manage by herself! And she wouldn’t let Shiiran just walk off! She was not allowed to leave her!  
She grabbed Shiiran’s face with both her hands, made her look at her once again. Miya had no intention ending up like her sister, never wanted anyone to see her like she saw Wataru that day when Saeko left her. The image of her sister crying in agony still haunted her and back then she feared so much for her. The only thing she could do was staying save by not letting her feelings take over and make Shiiran stay by her side even by forcing her to. She wouldn’t lose her like Wataru lost Saeko.  
“You are MINE”, she said angrily, her voice shaking. “You fucking do as I tell you the very second I order you to. If you don’t, I’ll make you regret it. If I tell you to love me, then you will bow down and kiss my feet! I won’t let you leave me!”  
  
Wataru sneezed.  
“Goodness…”  
Maybe someone talking or thinking about her. Whatever, she thought. Sighing she packed back the last few of her documents and locked everything right up. Sometimes all of this made her tired, yet she stopped herself from yawning and actually showing how tired she sometimes felt, especially when she had her pet sitting on the couch and waiting for her next order. It was strange how well she suddenly behaved, just sitting there and learning her song so that she could rehears later on. Not like she could with the whole band anytime soon. Miya had made it quite clear that she needed a little bit of playtime with Shiiran.  
“Mikkii”, she then said and the younger girls head flinched right up. “You still didn’t tell me what you and Renta were talking about. Fill me in, will you?”  
Even if not intentionally, Renta sometimes had the habit of talking too much. Revealing too much. She knew perfectly well what made the blonde stick with her even without an official contract. The redhead set down her papers and Wataru peeked over the edge of her glasses. Not that she exactly needed one anyway, however it was better for her eyes when she sat in the office all day long.  
“We didn’t talk about a lot…”  
“That’s not what I asked. What did you two talk about?”  
“She showed me the city. Then she told me that she was playing the guitar since she was 11… or 12 or something, but that’s about it. She’s not really talkative when it doesn’t include gossip about the people around her.”  
“What kind of gossip?”  
She saw Mikkii getting slightly more uncomfortable on her spot.  
“Well… uhm… She thinks Shuu has terrible fashion choices and she’s annoyed about Benis and Terus eternal argument about what cocktails to serve in which glass. I said I liked both and we went on about what cocktails we liked.”  
“I thought you weren’t into cocktails, Mitsuki.”  
“I like it every once in a while…”  
Wataru sat down her glasses. This was getting nowhere. After all that was not what she wanted to hear. When it came to people suddenly behaving differently, she was sensitive and to see how perfectly Mikkii suddenly lined up everything she asked her to do and how properly she suddenly behaved even after so little training made her suspicious. After she started her little games, there was one thing that was always the same: people had to sit to her feet, crying and begging her to stop before they started to behave and she didn’t believe Mikkii would be any different. The way Mikkii became more and more nervous the longer she looked at her approved on her theory.  
“So? Who told you?”  
“… W-Who told me about what?”  
“I am pretty sure someone told you that it’s better to listen to me and to please me rather than having me angry and I think you also know the reason why.” Their contract. “The question remains who. Since I know Renta well enough by now, I hardly believe it was her. So who told you, Mitsuki?”  
  
Mikkii felt her heart beat hard aganst her chest. There was no way she could tell Wataru. She didn’t want to sell out Shiiran to her even more than she already did, not after she tried so hard to keep her save. But she also couldn’t say that Renta had helped. She knew already how much Watarus’ trust meant to Renta.   
“So?”, Wataru asked once again and once more Mikkii stayed quiet. “… I see.”  
When the older woman got up from her chair, Mikkii felt herself flinch, shaking while the heels slammed on the ground and stopped right in front of her. However instead of grabbing her chin and forcing her to look up as she expected, Wataru sat down beside her and leaned over to her.  
“You know what, dear?”, she suddenly said, smiling in the corner of her eyes. “I let it slide.”  
Her eyes widening she looked over to the older woman, had her right in front of her face while doing so. The smile she had on her face was terrifying.  
“… What?”  
“You heard me. I’ll just ignore you disobeying my order just now. You know why?” The long fingers ran over her cheek and into her hair. “I’ll find out anyways. Sooner or later. However… I hold back punishing anyone because I like your obedience right now. You’re talented and you do way better than the girls I had before you.”  
Just because you leave me no choice, Mikkii thought. She was in no position to talk back and she had no idea how to get out of this mess. Also, she feared of what would become of Shiiran and the others. The drummer not only had Wataru sitting in her neck, but also Miyacchi and Mikkii didn’t even want to think about what Miya did to her when she dragged her off earlier.   
“Please don’t hurt anyone”, Mikkii huskily whispered. She couldn’t hold it back.  
“Well that’s entirely up to you, dearest.” Wataru leaned in and she felt her breath on her lips while her voice became a whisper. “I can give you everything. I will give you everything. And yet this is your burden, Mitsuki. Don’t make me angry and I will be very generous. You are alive only for me. I’m your god and you will treat me as such. In return, I’ll reward you for your good behavior.” Wataru stopped her from looking away by grabbing her chin. “Just as I did now. I spare you and your friends for now because I like you. Humor me and I give you more.”  
She had no idea how to answer this, so she stayed quiet. Instead she leaned in, pressed a kiss on Wataru’s lips to finally silence her. She couldn’t bare it any longer. Hearing her talk like this scared her way more than any physical thread. Not for herself, but for everyone else. The thought of having someone hurt because of her, just because she misbehaved… That was something she couldn’t live with. She called these people her friends and she didn’t want to end up alone.  
  
Renta entered the club sometime later, yet instead of the usual picture, she noticed a few changes here and there. Teru was not with Beni, arguing like they always did, Shiiran and Miya were not on stage and half of the waitresses were not there to begin with. So it was that time again.   
Every once in a while, especially when Wataru felt like it, she liked to make her subjects (there really was no other word for their king) work overtime until they collapsed. Well as long as they showed up for the time the club opened its gates, she didn’t care. Renta couldn’t really understand this behavior and after Touko’s visit in the morning, she more than ever missed the time when Youko was still around, the woman that saved her life. Wataru was just her stagename after all, however at one point, she buried Youko under a pile of grief and hatred and became this twisted being. Only few remembered Youko but each and everyone wanted her back and end all of this. Then again, an end was not in sigh.  
Carefully, silently she saw Mikkii slip out from backstage, staying close to the wall and heading for the dressing rooms. The blonde decided to follow her, caught up at the lockers and watched Mikkii sit down on the bench. She was pale and her whole body shaking.  
“Mikkii?”, she asked softly before she got closer. “Are you alright?”  
The younger jumped just a little and looked up.   
“Don’t startle me like that…”, the redhead murmured. “You gave me a heart attack.”  
“To be honest: I wasn’t even trying to be silent.”  
“What is it?”  
“Just asking what’s wrong.”  
“… Everything.” She suddenly seemed so upset and tears filled her eyes. “I… I don’t know if I can do this. What if I mess up?”  
“Mess what up?”  
“Mess everything up for all of you. She… she said she would only let you guys off the hook if I behave. What if I lose it?”  
Renta couldn’t help but laugh silently, sat down beside the younger woman.  
“You really don’t need to think about that too hard.”  
“What?”  
“Remember that you’re not the first girl that Wataru brought. We had it way worse. Actually the last time I saw Wataru so pleased was with Dan. You’re doing just fine. Don’t let her scare you too much.”  
“B-But…”  
“Mikkii… she gave you a day off. I don’t even remember the time that happened. She lets you hang out with me and right now you’re sitting here instead of running errands for her or one of her friends. You’re doing fine.” Renta lowered her voice. She didn’t want anyone to hear since Wataru had her spies literally everywhere. “You’re an actress, aren’t you? Start acting like one. She doesn’t need to know everything.”  
Mikkii nodded slightly, carefully grabbed Renta’s hand and held it tightly. The blonde made sure to have their hands down between them on the bench, out of sight of curious minds.   
“She scares me so much…”, Mikkii once again whispered.  
“I know. But she thinks that’s the only way of keeping the people she likes around her. Since she scares you so much, that means she’s very fond of you. You simply need to learn how to push her buttons right.” Renta smiled at the other. “Come on. Please gimme a smile? I’ll have your back. I promise.”


End file.
